25 years after no-fly zone, US commanders return to Kurdistan

Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – In 1991, the United States launched Operation Provide Comfort to bring relief aid and protection to the Kurds of northern Iraq who were dying by the hundreds as they tried to flee the forces of Saddam Hussein. 

Twenty-five years later, a group of Americans who led the operation have returned to the Kurdistan Region to see what the Kurds have achieved. 

 

Retired General John Abizaid


In early March 1991, Kurds in Iraq launched an uprising against Saddam Hussein, weakened after the Gulf War. The Iraqi dictator unleashed terror on the Kurds. Fearing another Anfal massacre, hundreds of thousands of Kurds tried to flee but became trapped in the mountains, without water, food, and medical supplies. Hundreds were dying weekly.  

On April 6, Operation Provide Comfort began, one day after the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling on Baghdad to end its repression of the Iraqi people. 

The US, UK, and France established a no-fly zone in northern Iraq and humanitarian aid was delivered to the Kurds. 

As a result of the operation and international support, the Kurdish region gained significant autonomy. 

 

Retired Lieutenant General Jay Garner


The US commanders have returned to the Kurdistan Region at the invitation of President Masoud Barzani to reminisce about the past and get a glimpse of what Kurdistan has become. 

“I wish the rest of Iraq could have done as well as the Kurds,” said General James Jones.