Iraqi Kurds

Hay, A., Robert, G. (1990). The use of poison gas against the Iraqi Kurds Analysis of bomb fragments, soil, and wool samples [Letter to the editor]. Journal of the American Medical Association, 263, 1065-1066. 

When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, he did not expect that the United States would respond as resolutely as it did—a serious miscalculation on his part. Nonetheless, the United States— faced as it was with an enemy that had used chemical weapons against Iranian forces and Iraqi Kurds alike— was extremely worried that Iraq might use chemicals against coalition forces during Operation Desert Storm. 

In Japan, a number of years ago, a terrorist attack with sarin killed a dozen individuals confined to a subway car out of roughly a thousand people in the nearby vicinity. Sarin has little effect on the skin, due to rapid evaporation. It is true that the Iraqis killed many Kurds with nerve gas, but the victims were unprepared, had no training, no detection devices, no masks or other protection, no antidote and no practical way to avoid the gas. None of these vulnerabilities would be the case in a conflict with American troops. 

Although the war was a decisive military victory for the coalition, Kuwait and Iraq suffered enormous damage and Saddam Hussein was not removed from power. In fact, Hussein was free to turn his attention towards suppressing internal Shite and Kurd revolts, which the coalition did not support. Iraq agreed coalition peace terms, but every effort was made by the Iraqis to frustrate the implementation of the terms, particularly United Nations weapons inspections. 

The Iraqi Army is said to total about sixty thousand men. I doubt if there are anything like that number present with the colors. My own guess would be around thirty thousand. There are three divisions the Mountain Division at Kirkuk, which keeps an eye on the turbulent Kurds in the north, the Plains Division at Nasiriya, and the Bagdad Division, which is largely a training establishment, and of which only the Royal Bodyguard (one infantry battalion and one squadron... 

Associated Press. Iraqi gas attack on Kurds disputed. Washington Times. 18 Dec 1990. 

Iraq Kurds 19 April 2004 Constitution of the Iraqi Kurdistan region... 

N. Beeston, Hundreds Die in Iraqi Chemical Attack on Kurds , The Times, 22 March 1988, p.l N. Kirkham, Cyanide Bombers Lay Waste a Town , The Daily Telegraph, 22 March 1988, p.l US DoD, Conduct of the Persian Gw//W r,p.l8. 

It is harder to see the military and political rationale for the extension of chemical attacks to civilian targets in Iran and in Iraq itself during 1987 and 1988. It may have reflected Iraqi desperation at the protracted war it may have been an attempt to weaken the morale of Iranian civilians in the hope of weakening support for the war it may also have been connected to irritation at Iranian support for Kurdish rebels in Iraq. The Sunni Kurds in northern Iraq had been receiving Iranian support since 1979, just as Iraq had been supporting the Sunni Kurds in Iran. The use of chemicals at Hallabyah in March 1988 was presumably intended to terrorise and subjugate a dissident population. 

In a speech to the UN General Assembly in September 1988, President Reagan proposed an international conference to consider ways of reinforcing the Protocol. In the revulsion following Iraqi use of gas against the Kurds earher in the year, this proposal commanded widespread support. France, as depositary power for the Geneva Protocol, convened the Paris Conference, which was held from 7-11 January 1989. One hundred and forty-nine countries attended, including Iraq, which acted as spokesman for the Arab states, and Libya - the subject of controversy over the exact state of its chemical weapons production capability. 

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