News



      DATE=2/23/98
      TYPE=WORLDWIDE ENGLISH FEATURE
    NUMBER=7-
     TITLE=CAPTURED IRAQI SECRET POLICE FILES
    BYLINE=MARTIN SECREST
 TELEPHONE=401-7467
  DATELINE=WASHINGTON
    EDITOR=NANCY SMART

CONTENT=

            [INSERTS/V-V AVAILABLE IN AUDIO SERVICES]

INTRO:   IN 1991, AT THE CLOSE OF THE GULF WAR, KURDISH REBEL 
         GROUPS IN NORTHERN IRAQ SEIZED A MASSIVE COLLECTION OF 
         PAPERS AND RECORDED TAPES FROM IRAQI SECRET POLICE AND 
         MILITARY HEADQUARTERS IN THE REGION.  WITH THE CONSENT 
         OF KURDISH REBELS, THE MATERIALS WERE AIRLIFTED OUT OF 
         IRAQ IN 1992 BY THE U-S MILITARY. THEY DOCUMENT A 
         SYSTEMATIC CAMPAIGN OF VIOLENCE AGAINST THE MINORITY 
         KURDS, INCLUDING THE USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS BY IRAQ.  
         DURING THIS SO CALLED "ANFAL" CAMPAIGN, WHICH WAS AT ITS
         HEIGHT IN THE LATE 1980'S, OVER 100-THOUSAND KURDISH 
         CIVILIANS DISAPPEARED, MANY OF THEM EXECUTED.  THE 
         CAPTURED SECRET FILES -- ALL FIVE AND A HALF MILLION 
         PAGES OF THEM -- HAVE BEEN STORED IN A DIGITAL DATABASE 
         BY THE U-S DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, AND THE ORIGINAL
         MATERIALS ARE NOW ARCHIVED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
         AT BOULDER.  AS VOA'S MARTIN SECREST REPORTS, THE SECRET
         FILES MAY PROVIDE SOME ANSWERS TO KURDS WHO ARE LOOKING 
         FOR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES WHO HAVE LONG SINCE 
         DISAPPEARED:

TEXT:    ASAD GOZEH KNOWS FIRSTHAND OF THE CAMPAIGN OF TERROR AND
         GENOCIDE CARRIED OUT AGAINST THE KURDS IN NORTHERN IRAQ.
         THOUGH HE NOW LIVES IN THE UNITED STATES,  MR. GOZEH 
         OPPOSED SADDAM HUSSEIN AS A MEMBER OF THE PATRIOTIC 
         UNION OF KURDISTAN, A REBEL GROUP.  HE IS A SURVIVOR OF 
         SEVERAL CHEMICAL WEAPONS ATTACKS BY IRAQI FORCES.  HE 
         SAYS THE FIRST ATTACKS OCCURRED DURING THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR
         IN THE LATE 1980'S, METED OUT IN PART AS PUNISHMENT FOR 
         THE KURDS' REFUSAL TO JOIN THE WAR:

TAPE:    CUT ONE, GOZEH                                          
                                                               
:47

         "I WAS EXPECTING THAT SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS GOING TO USE 
         CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST THE KURDS.  ONE THING THAT 
         SADDAM WAS AFRAID (OF) WAS THAT THE POPULATION OF THE 
         KURDS GREW DURING THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR, AND I KNEW THAT 
         SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS GOING TO DECREASE THE POPULATION OF 
         THE KURDS, BECAUSE HE NEVER THOUGHT THAT THE KURDS ARE 
         PART OF IRAQ.  HE THOUGHT THEY WERE 'GUESTS' ON ARABIC 
         LAND, WHICH WE NEVER WERE -- WE WERE JOINED BY FORCE TO 
         IRAQ."

TEXT:    ASAD GOZEH SAYS HIS BROTHER WAS NEARLY BLINDED BY 
         MUSTARD GAS IN A CHEMICAL ATTACK, AND THAT ENTIRE 
         VILLAGES OF KURDS WERE WIPED OUT BY CHEMICAL WEAPONS.  
         HE SAYS HE SURVIVED THE ATTACKS BY LEARNING TO RECOGNIZE
         THE LESSER EXPLOSION OF A CHEMICAL BOMB, AND WHEN ONE 
         WAS DEPLOYED, TO SEEK OUT HIGHER LAND, BUILD AND STAY 
         CLOSE TO A FIRE, AND PUT A WET CLOTH OVER HIS MOUTH.  

TAPE:    CUT TWO, HILTERMANN                                     
                                                               :0
                                                               6

         "WE HAVE GONE THROUGH THEM ALL -- THERE'S MORE THAN FIVE
         MILLION PAGES -- WE'VE READ EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF PAPER 
         IN THERE." 

TEXT:    JOOST HILTERMANN IS WITH HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, AN 
         INDEPENDENT HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION BASED IN THE 
         UNITED STATES.   IN 1992, THE GROUP WORKED WITH THE 
         KURDS AND THE U-S MILITARY TO FLY THE SECRET FILES OUT 
         OF IRAQ.  MOST OF THE DOCUMENTS ORIGINATED IN THE 
         GENERAL SECURITY DIRECTORATE, THE SECRET POLICE AGENCY 
         OF IRAQ:

TAPE:    CUT THREE, HILTERMANN                                   
                                                               
:18

         "WHAT IS IN THERE, IN ADDITION TO A HUGE AMOUNT OF 
         RATHER TEDIOUS ADMINISTRATIVE DETAIL, THERE IS VERY 
         STARK AND TELLING EVIDENCE OF VERY SERIOUS ABUSES OF 
         HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAQ DURING THE 1980'S AND EARLY 
         1990'S."

TEXT:    MR. HILTERMANN SAYS THE IRAQI "ANFAL" CAMPAIGN AGAINST 
         THE KURDS -- "ANFAL" IS A WORD THAT MEANS "SPOILS" -- 
         WAS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE WHEN IT WAS UNDERWAY. BUT IT WAS 
         PRESENTED UNDER THE GUISE OF A COUNTERINSURGENCY 
         CAMPAIGN, LED BY SADDAM HUSSEIN'S COUSIN, ALI HASSAN 
         AL-MAJID:

TAPE:    CUT FOUR, HILTERMANN                                    
                                                               :3
                                                               6

         "THEY'RE VERY OPEN ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN -- IN FACT, THE 
         CAMPAIGN WAS OPENLY DISCUSSED IN THE IRAQI NEWSPAPERS AT
         THE TIME.  THERE WAS NO SECRET ABOUT IT.  IT WAS A 
         MILITARY CAMPAIGN, AND IT WAS PRESENTED AS STRICTLY A 
         MILITARY CAMPAIGN.  THIS IS SIGNIFICANT, BECAUSE THE WAY
         IT WAS PRESENTED WAS A CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE 'SABOTEURS,'
         WHICH IS THEIR EUPHEMISM FOR THE REBELS, THE KURDISH 
         REBELS.  AND THE WHOLE FACT THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE 
         PEOPLE WHO WERE ROUNDED UP DURING THIS CAMPAIGN, AND 
         SENT TO THEIR DEATH, SYSTEMATICALLY, WERE CIVILIANS, IS 
         COMPLETELY OMITTED -- IT'S NOT THERE."

TEXT:    IRAQI OFFICIALS, ACCORDING TO MR. HILTERMANN, HAVE LONG 
         CLAIMED THAT THE CAPTURED FILES ARE FORGERIES. BUT HE 
         SAYS THAT CLAIM CHALLENGES COMMON SENSE BECAUSE OF THE 
         ENORMOUS NUMBER OF THE DOCUMENTS, AND THE VARIETY AND 
         COMPLEXITY OF THE MATERIALS IN BOTH FORM AND CONTENT.  
         JOOST HILTERMANN ALSO SAYS THAT THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT HAS
         ATTEMPTED TO KEEP FULL KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THE ANFAL 
         CAMPAIGN WAS REALLY ABOUT TIGHTLY CONTROLLED :

TAPE:    CUT FIVE, HILTERMANN                                    
                                                               
:18

         "PEOPLE CANNOT SPEAK OPENLY AND DISCUSS THINGS.  THE 
         PRESS IS TOTALLY CONTROLLED.  THE DISTRIBUTION OF 
         INFORMATION IS VERY LIMITED.  PEOPLE SPREAD NEWS BY WORD
         OF MOUTH, AND THERE ARE A LOT OF KURDS LIVING IN 
         BAGHDAD, FOR EXAMPLE, AND WHAT HAPPENED DURING ANFAL IS 
         KNOWN THERE, GENERALLY."      

TEXT:    THE IRAQI SECRET POLICE FILES NOW RESIDE AT AN 
         UNDISCLOSED LOCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT 
         BOULDER.  THE ACQUISITION IS THE LATEST IN THE 
         UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES' SIX YEAR-OLD PROGRAM CALLED THE 
         HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE, AND THE IRAQI FILES WERE 
         APPROVED FOR SHIPMENT TO COLORADO BY U-S SENATOR JESSE 
         HELMS, CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS 
         COMMITTEE.  BRUCE MONTGOMERY IS THE CURATOR OF THE 
         UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ARCHIVES -- HE SAYS THAT THE 
         CACHE OF IRAQI SECRET FILES IS A MAJOR ACQUISITION:

TAPE:    CUT SIX, MONTGOMERY                             :29

         "I THINK THESE MATERIALS ARE PROBABLY THE MOST 
         SIGNIFICANT FILES TO FALL INTO OPEN HANDS SINCE PERHAPS 
         THE NAZI FILES FELL INTO ALLIED HANDS AFTER THE FALL OF 
         BERLIN.  THEY REVEAL A GENOCIDAL CAMPAIGN OF A ROGUE 
         GOVERNMENT IN ITS OWN WORDS, AND THEY'RE AN 
         EXTRAORDINARY CACHE OF MATERIALS THAT WE VERY MUCH WANT 
         TO MAKE AS WIDELY ACCESSIBLE TO THE NATIONAL AND 
         INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AS POSSIBLE."

TEXT:    BRUCE MONTGOMERY SAYS THAT THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 
         CURRENTLY MAKES THE IRAQI SECRET FILES DATABASE 
         AVAILABLE TO ANYONE WHO GOES TO THE UNIVERSITY.  AND HE 
         SAYS THAT WITHIN SIX TO TWELVE MONTHS, THE UNIVERSITY 
         HOPES TO HAVE THE FILES ON THE INTERNET, WHERE THEY WILL
         BE ACCESSIBLE TO VIRTUALLY ANYONE.  MR. MONTGOMERY SAYS 
         THAT THE DOCUMENTS PROVIDE A CHILLING INSIGHT INTO 
         IRAQ'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST ITS KURDISH CITIZENS, AND WILL 
         BE, AS HE PUTS IT, "OF TREMENDOUS IMPORTANCE TO KURDS 
         WHO WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR LOVED ONES."
         (SIGNED)    

NEB/MS/NES  

23-Feb-98 4:07 PM EST (2107 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.