The Honorable Claiborne Pell, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510
Dear Mr. Chairman: Six months ago the fate of Iraq's Kurds was placed on the international agenda as a result of the immense human suffering following the failure of their rebellion against Saddam Hussein. International intervention helped prevent a greater catastrophe, but the people of Iraqi Kurdistan remain at grave risk. At your direction, I returned to Iraqi Kurdistan in September to assess the situation.
Between September 4 and 11, 1991, I traveled throughout the Kurdish-controlled parts of Iraq. The liberated territory now comprises more than 80 percent of the Kurdish inhabited lands, and I went as far south as Halabja, as far east as Haj Omran on the Iranian border, north to the triangle where the borders of Iran and Turkey converge, and, in the west, to Amadiyah, Dihok, and Zakho where the Syrian and Turkish borders meet...
Contents
Letter of Transmittal / V Summary of Key Findings / VII
I. A Broken Land: Kurdistan Today / 1 A. Overview / 1 B. Political/Military Situation / 2 C. Military Needs / 6 D. Humanitarian Needs / 8 E. Sanctions Busting / 9 F. An Anti-Saddam Strategy / 11
II. Legacy of Death: Iraqi Rule in Kurdistan / 13 A. Overview / 13 B. Qalat Diza and the Destroyed Cities / 13 C. Halabja Slowly Reveals its Horrors / 15 D. Sulaymaniyah Secret Police Headquarters / 16 E. The Al-Anfal Campaign / 20 F. The Mines of Haj Omran / 21 G. Crimes Against Humanity / 23
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
November 26, 1991
The Honorable Claiborne Pell, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510
Dear Mr. Chairman: Six months ago the fate of Iraq's Kurds was placed on the international agenda as a result of the immense human suffering following the failure of their rebellion against Saddam Hussein. International intervention helped prevent a greater catastrophe, but the people of Iraqi Kurdistan remain at grave risk. At your direction, I returned to Iraqi Kurdistan in September to assess the situation.
Between September 4 and 11, 1991, I traveled throughout the Kurdish-controlled parts of Iraq. The liberated territory now comprises more than 80 percent of the Kurdish inhabited lands, and I went as far south as Halabja, as far east as Haj Omran on the Iranian border, north to the triangle where the borders of Iran and Turkey converge, and, in the west, to Amadiyah, Dihok, and Zakho where the Syrian and Turkish borders meet. Four times I crossed Iraqi lines, on two occasions disguised as a Kurd, in order to visit the populous cities of Irbil and Sulaymaniyah. This report attempts to present as comprehensive a picture of the situation in Kurdistan today as possible.
This trip would not have been possible without the assistance, cooperation, and friendship of many of the Iraqi Kurds including my host Jalal Talabani, KDP leader Massoud Barzani, Samy Abdu Rahman, Hoshyer Zebari, Karim Khan of Bardohst, and Sheikh Moustafa Zinawi. Dr. Abdul Karim Rauf, who escorted me safely through Kurdistan during the March uprising, and Hoshyer Samsan were my guides in Kurdistan, and I am grateful to thern as well as to Tania Ali Hasan and Erman Bahaadin.
Sincerely,
Peter W. Galbraith
U. S. Senate
Kurdistan in the Time of Saddam Hussein
U. S. G. P. O.
U.S. Government Printing Office Kurdistan in the Time of Saddam Hussein U. S. Senate
102th Congress 1st Session Committee Print S. Prt. 102-56
Kurdistan in the time of Saddam Hussein
A Staff Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations Claiborne Pell, Rhode Island, Chairman Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Delaware Jesse Helms, North Carolina Paul S. Sarbanes, Maryland Richard G. Lugar, Indiana Alan Cranston, California Nancy L. Kassebaum, Kansas Christopher J. Dodd, Connecticut Larry Pressler, South Dakota John F. Kerry, Massachusetts Frank H. Murkowskı, Alaska Paul Simon, Illinois Mıtch Mcconnell, Kentucky Terry Sanford, North Carolina Hank Brown, Colorado Daniel P. Moynıhan, New York James M. Jeffords, Vermont Charles S. Robb, Virginia Harris Wofford, Pennsylvania Geryld B. Chrstianson, Staff Director James P. Lucier, Minority Staff Director
November 1991
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations
U.S. Government Printıng Office 49-559 Washington : 1991
For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402
