Operation Provide Comfort
Provide Comfort was the huge humanitarian relief operation that assisted
the Iraq Kurdish population that had been forced to flee their homelands
in northern Iraq for the mountains found along the Turkish-Iraq border
region shortly after the Gulf War in early 1991. Shortly after the
ceasefire between the Coalition forces and the Iraq forces Saddam Hussein
dispatched his army with its feared T-72 main battle tanks and
Mi-24 HIND Attack Helicopters northward to deal with the Kurdish rebellion taking
place in northern Iraq.
U.S. Urges Kurds to Revolt. President Bush had urged the
Kurds to support the Coalition in the war effort and to march on Baghdad
with their Peshmerga forces. Although the Kurds enjoyed initial success
and took much of northern Iraq; they quickly started experiencing defeats
at the hands of the superior weapons of the Iraqi Army that was no longer
fighting the U.S. led Coalition.
Kurds Flee to Border Areas. It didn't take long for a
mass exodus of Kurds to leave their homes and flee to the Iranian and
Turkish borders. The Iraq military had, on numerous occassions in the
past, committed mass murders of innocent Kurd civilians and fears were
that this would happen once again. Unfortunately, the Iranians were unable
to care for the almost one million refugees crossing its borders. In
addition, the Turks refused to allow the Kurds to cross into Turkey. This
left over 1/2 million Kurds straddling the border in the high mountains of
northern Iraq without shelter, food, or water. Up to 1,000 Kurds were
dying daily at the beginning of the refugee crisis.
World Attention on Humanitarian Crisis. It did not take
long for the world to recognize the problem. The news reports were filled
with dire reports of the Kurdish situation. 1.
Leaders of European countries (Francois Mitterrand of France,John Major of
Britain, and others) were calling the White House saying that something
had to be done. The Bush administration could no longer ignore the
problem; it had become the news story of the world and the world was
waiting for action by the United States.
10th Special Forces Group
Elements of the 10th Special Forces Group 5.
(Airborne), at the time home-based at Fort Devens, Massachusetts (with a
battalion forward deployed in Germany), had participated in a very small
and secret operation called ELUSIVE CONCEPT. The Special Forces Soldiers
conducted Special Operations and Combat Search and Recovery (CSAR)
operations during Desert Storm from bases in southern Turkey. The task
force was headed by Special Operations Command, Europe (SOCEUR) commanded
by General Potter and formed around the Soldiers of 10th Special Forces
Group commanded by Colonel William Tangney.
This was part of Joint Task Force Proven Force (January - February 1991)
staged frin airbases located at Incirlik, Diyarbakir, and Batman, Turkey;
with a target area of northern Iraq. As soon as the Gulf War ended the
10th Special Forces Group elements departed Turkey for the states.
When Operation Provide Comfort kicked off in early April 1991 the 10th
Special Forces Group was one of the first elements on the ground and
became (along with SOCEUR) the command and control element (for the first
several weeks) for a large number of different military organizations
supporting the Kurdish refugee relief effort.
No Fly Zone over Northern Iraq
At the conclusion of the Provide Comfort missions a no-fly zone area was
enforced over parts of northern Iraq enforced by fighter jets from the
U.S. and other participating nations. One unfortunate incident was the
downing of two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters mistaken for Iraq aircraft.
2.
Critics of Provide Comfort from "Right to Flee" Perspective
International 'Legal Beagles' took issue with the concept of Operation
Provide Comfort - taking the stance that the international community
should have harbored the estimated 1.8 million Kurds under the 'right to
flee'. 3. This, of course, would have
been an immense challenge - finding homes and support for that large
number of refugees. Turkey certainly was not in favor of this solution.
Provide Comfort II
After the end of the humanitarian assistance operation (Provide Comfort)
the establishment of a 'no fly zone' provided a level of protection to the
Kurds from Iraqi military aircraft. The no fly zone was enforced by
Coalition aircraft flying out of Incirlik Airbase in western Turkey for a
number of years after the end of the 'original Provide Comfort' mission.
These air crews required the presence of a Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR)
force that could rescue pilots enforcing the no fly zone over northern
Iraq. This CSAR element was provided for a number of years by members
(usually company minus strength) of the 10th Special Forces Group
(occasionally augmented by ODAs from the 11th Special Forces Group of the
US Army Reserves).
Websites with Info on Operation Provide Comfort
Operation Provide Comfort - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Provide_Comfort
Operation Provide Comfort - Global Security.org
www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/provide_comfort.htm
Operation Provide Comfort II - Global Security.org
www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/provide_comfort_2.htm
Operation Provide Comfort. Home of the Psywarrior.
http://www.psywarrior.com/ProvideComfort.html
Operation Habitat. Australian contribution to Provide Comfort. Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Habitat
Papers and Publications on Provide Comfort
Brown, Lt Col Ronald J., Humanitarian Operations in Northern Iraq,
1991: With Marines in Operation Provide Comfort, History and Museums
Division, HQs, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C.
http://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/Humanitarian Oper . . .
Clary, LtCol David E., Operation Provide Comfort - A Strategic
Analysis, Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Alabama, April 1994.
www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a280675.pdf
Goff, COL Donald G., Building Coalitions for Humanitarian Operations -
Operation Provide Comfort, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks,
Carlisle, PA, 15 April 1992
www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA251202
Haulman, Daniel L., "Crisis in Iraq: Operation Provide Comfort", Short
of War: Major USAF Contingency Operations 1947-1997. An Air Force
History and Museaums Program publication, Air Force Historical Studies
Office, Joint Base Anacostia Bolling, D.C.
www.afhso.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-120823-031.pdf
Rudd, Gordon W., Humanitarian Intervention - Assisting the Iraqi Kurds
in Operation PROVIDE COMFORT, 1991. United States Department of the
Army, Washington, D.C., 2004.
www.history.army.mil/html/books/humanitarian_intervention/CMH_70-78.pdf
References on Provide Comfort
USAF, Operation Provide Comfort and Northern Watch, Factsheet,
Air Force Historical Studies Office, September 18, 2012.
www.afhso.af.mil/topics/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=19873
Operation Provide Comfort - Los Angeles Times News Stories
http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/operation-provide-comfort
National Defence and the Canadian Forces (CF) Operation PROVIDE COMFORT
http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/od-bdo/di-ri-eng.asp?IntlOpId=202&CdnOpId=243
Videos about Provide Comfort
Operation Provide Comfort: Aid to the Kurds, C-SPAN, September 4,
1991. Coverage of testimony before the House Armed Services Defense Policy
Panel. LTG John Shalikashvili was commander of Operation Provide Comfort.
www.c-span.org/video/?21027-1/operation-provide-comfort-aid-kurds
U.S. Relief Efforts for Kurds in Iraq, C-SPAN, April 23, 1991.
Testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the relief needs
for Kurds in northern Iraq.
www.c-span.org/video/?17683-1/us-relief-efforts-refugees-iraq
Kurdish Human Rights, C-SPAN, April 8, 1991. Coverage of remarks
by the director of the Kurdish Human Rights Watch. Mr. Al-Karadaghi is a
former minister in the diplomatic service of Iraq and he spoke on the
current plight of the Kurdish minority in the wake of the Persian Gulf War
and the ensuing Iraqi civil unrest.
www.c-span.org/video/?17453-1/kurdish-human-rights
News Stories about Provide Comfort
July 14, 1991.
"UK forces withdraw from Kurdish haven". BBC.
Endnotes
1. For an example of the dire reports on the news about the Kurdish
humanitarian situation in early 1991 view a news report by Tom Brokaw,
NBC, aired on April 5, 1991.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHgb_RT-S0w
2. See OPERATION PROVIDE COMFORT: Review of U.S. Air Force
Investigation of Black Hawk Fracticide Incident, GAO Report,
November 5, 1997.
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GAOREPORTS-OSI-98-4/pdf/GAOREPORTS-OSI-98-4.pdf
3. For more on the international perspective of "right to flee" read
Safe Havens in Iraq: Operation Provide Comfort, by Sophi
Haspeslagh.
www.beyondintractability.org/cic_documents/Safe-Havens-Iraq.pdf
4. View a video of a 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces CSAR element in
Turkey conducting training, September 12, 1991.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x9p5T3XpXA
5. For info
on 10th Special Forces Group view the history, lineage, and description on
the USASOC website.
www.soc.mil/USASFC/Groups/10th/10thSFG(A).html
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