III. IRAQ's FINAL OFFENSIVE
A. A NARRATIVE ACCOUNT
With the August 20 ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq initiated
what it termed the "final offensive” to end the Kurdish insurgency.
The following is a narrative account constructed from eyewitness
accounts of Kurdish refugees who fled from Iraq to Turkey.
On August 20, 1988, the day the Iran-Iraq ceasefire went into
effect, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein turned his forces against
the Kurdish population in northern Iraq. Some of Iraq's most
battle-tested forces were dispatched to wrest control of the area
from Kurdish fighters, drop poison gas on Kurdish villagers, and
destroy Kurdish villages. On August 21, the Iraqi military began
building up its forces along the major roads in Iraqi Kurdistan, and
on August 25 launched chemical attacks against scores of Kurdish
villages. On August 28, Iraqi forces began to destroy evacuated
Kurdish villages.
During the early morning hours of August 25, 1988 Iraqi war-
planes and helicopters dropped chemical weapons on a series of vil-
lages in regions of Iraqi Kurdistan. In each of these regions, the
Kurdish fighters, or Pesh Merga, had established camps outside of
villages to protect them. For the most part, however, Iraqi bombs
did not fall on these camps, as might have been expected, but on
the villages themselves. In the Dihok region alone, more than 30
villages were exposed to various concentrations of poison gas.
Among the villages in the Zakho, Dihok, and Amadiyah regions
that suffered the most severe attacks were: Vermil, Bergini, Tika
(Duka), Ekmala, Hese, Xirabe, Blecane, Siyare, Meze, Afuke, Belut,
Sernae, Sivye, Zeweshkan, Mergeti, Zinawa, Dergel, Dubanche, Er-
misht, Berkevre, Bergabore, Borghule, Bilejane, Warneze, Zavita,
Nazdure, Berkule, Rudaniyo, Sarki, Berchi, and Ruyse.
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V. POLICY ISSUES
A. THE PRECEDENT
The horrors associated with the use of chemical weapons in
World War I led to the 1925 Geneva Protocol Banning the Use of
Chemical Weapons in War. As 20th century war became more de-
structive and more deadly, this one taboo remained intact. Since
1925 the use of chemical weapons has been infrequent and usually
in relatively isolated cases. Even Hitler did not employ chemical
weapons, although his unique decision to respect this norm of
international law was clearly motivated by a fear of allied retalia-
tion and not altruism.
Iraq has now broken the 70-year hiatus on chemical weapons use
in warfare. In its struggle with Iran, Iraq used poison gas exten-
sively and effectively. Indeed, as suggested above, it was probably
the decisive factor in the unexpected Iraqi triumph in the Iran Iraq
war.
Iraq's example is one that other countries are likely to look to.
Unlike nuclear warheads, chemical weapons are easy and relative-
ly cheap to manufacture. A country contemplating a nuclear bomb
must figure out where to obtain fissile material and how to process
it; the components for chemical weapons are widely and freely
available. Nuclear technology can be, and is, subject to export con-
trols and safeguards; because of the multiple use of the ingredients
in chemical weapons, comparable chemical safeguards are not fea-
sible. While nuclear weapons are state-of-the-art World War II
technology, poison gas is run-of-the-mill World War I technology.
There is evidence other countries are already in the chemical
weapons race. Libya, which has been frustrated in its 15-year effort
to buy a nuclear bomb or to obtain mastery over nuclear technolo-
gy, is now turning its efforts more successfully to chemical weap-
ons manufacture. Iran has already developed some chemical weap-
ons capability and is certain to want to try to match Iraq's capa-
bilities.
B. THE MIDDLE EAST
--
Iraq's mastery of chemical weapon warfare has ominous implica-
tions for the Middle East. Israel has long considered Iraq the most
formidable and dangerous of its Arab foes. Now it must contem-
plate an Iraq aimed with a weapon of mass destruction, which it
has already used with military success.
Iraq is also feared by many of its Arab neighbors. For years Iraq
actively claimed Kuwait as its own territory, and despite the fact
that Kuwait was Iraq's most loyal ally in the war (a loyalty for
which it paid a price), Iraq has refused to give up its territorial
claims. Iraq's assertion of pan-Arab leadership is often resented by
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