Putting Noncombatants at Risk:
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Summary:Putting Noncombatants at Risk: Saddam's Use of "Human Shields"In past confrontations with the West, Iraqi President Saddam Husayn has used thousands of foreign and Iraqi civilians as human shields in bids to manipulate domestic and international opinion and deter military action against his regime. This tactic has produced clear costs and only marginal gains for Saddam, yet he repeatedly has enacted variations of it since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.
In the current crisis, Baghdad is encouraging international peace groups to send members to Iraq to serve as voluntary human shields, and the Iraqi military continues its longstanding policy of placing military assets near civilian facilities and in densely populated areas. Discussion:Putting Noncombatants at Risk: Saddam's Use of "Human Shields"Over the past 15 years, Iraqi President Saddam Husayn has employed several variations of a "human shields" tactic in an effort to help forestall military attack or manipulate public opinion during confrontations with the UN or the West. The tactic involves placing noncombatants at or near likely military and strategic facilities to deter an attacker with the threat of collateral casualties to civilians or prisoners of war (POWs). The use of human shields violates the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which Iraq has signed. Saddam's exploitation of this tactic has encompassed:
Forcing Foreigners to Serve as Human ShieldsSaddam's first and, to date, most aggressive employment of human shields occurred during Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in August 1990 and the international response, Operation Desert Shield. Within hours of the start of Baghdad's invasion, Iraqi soldiers began taking hostage Western and other noncombatants they encountered as the Iraqi military pushed toward Kuwait City. Once there, the Iraqis actively continued their arrests, even removing UK citizens from a British Airways jet that had landed on a stopover in Kuwait just as the invasion began. The Western prisoners first were moved to secret locations, according to international press reports. Within days, Iraq closed the borders of Iraq and Kuwait, turned back foreigners trying to leave, and warned publicly that nationals of countries that joined a Coalition against Iraq would be sent as human shields to key Iraqi installations, including chemical weapons factories, to deter attacks.
Thousands of Americans and other Coalition nationals stranded in Iraq and Kuwaitincluding women and childrenremained under house arrest for as long as four months with the implicit threat of being used as human shields. Saddam televised meetings with a number of these hostages to show the world how well they were being treated and to underscore their continuing vulnerability. In a further attempt at exploitation, Saddam wrote and publicized a letter to their families that explained the role of these hostages "in promoting peace" in the region. These hostages were not used explicitly as shields at strategic sites. Most reported little or no physical abuse while under house arrest. Some were unable to obtain needed medicines during their incarceration, however, and suffered long-term complications. Iraqi soldiers and regime intelligence officers searched Kuwaiti neighborhoods for Coalition nationals throughout the occupation. Most of the Westerners and Japanese who were found were transported to Baghdad, where they were held in hotels or other facilities controlled by the Iraqi government. Press reports estimated that as many as 1,500 American, British, French, and other Coalition nationals hid themselves in Kuwait during Operation Desert Shield to avoid being used as human shields. Any Kuwaitis discovered harboring Coalition nationals were summarily executed, according to testimonies of former American hostages and human shields. Foreign CriticismMost nations responded with outrage to Saddam's use of foreigners as human shields. Critics blasted Saddam's action as a blatant violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, while Coalition partners condemned the move and made clear that they would not back away from military engagement because of it. Between 18 August and 25 September 1990, the United Nations Security Council passed four resolutions that condemned Iraq for holding foreign nationals against their will. The resolutions declared that Baghdad was responsible for their safety and demanded their immediate release. As Saddam recognized the growing cost of his policy, he began to free a few hostages and human shields in a controlled bid to regain international credibility and exacerbate divisions over planned Coalition action. At first, Saddam released hostages primarily on humanitarian grounds, owing to their health or age, in response to official or personal appeals from foreign representatives. He soon expanded his "largesse" to nationals of countries sympathetic to Iraq. Iraqi officials also tried to entice Japan and other countries to abandon their support for the UN-imposed economic sanctions against Iraq by offering to free their nationals held hostage. Saddam and other Iraqi officials issued similar public offers to release all foreign hostages on the condition that Coalition forces not attack Iraq. On December 6, a little more than a month before the start of Operation Desert Storm, Baghdad announced that all foreigners could depart unconditionally. Almost all did within a matter of days. Threatening POWsDespite the negative publicity that his human shields policy generated, once the Coalition began its military response, Operation Desert Storm, Saddam again threatened its useagainst coalition POWs. In a 21 January 1991 broadcast on Baghdad Radio, an Iraqi military spokesman announced that Iraq would use the 20 or so Coalition POWsAmericans, British, French, and Saudisas human shields at "scientific, economic, and other selected targets." The military spokesman stated that the action was one of the government's measures to counter "unjust" Coalition air attacks against "civilian, economic, and scientific targets" inside Iraqi cities, attacks which had resulted in the death and injury of Iraqi civilians. The next day, an Iraqi Presidential spokesman described the locations where the POWs were to be placed as "military targets."
Manipulating Iraqi and Foreign "Volunteers"Saddam has continued to employ variations of this policy in subsequent periods of tension with the Westbut in ways that cost him less politically. One approach has been to encourage or coerce Iraqi civilians and foreign peace activists to serve as "volunteer" human shields at Iraqi strategic sites during periods of increased tension with the UN and the United States. In mid-November 1997, Saddam enticed or coerced thousands of Iraqi men, women, and children to volunteer as human shields at his presidential palaces and Iraqi industrial sites. Iraq's refusal to allow UN officials to conduct weapons inspections at a number of sensitive sites in the greater Baghdad area precipitated a new crisis as the month began. On 10 November, Saddam opened one of the Baghdad palaces to Iraqi families who reportedly had offered to stay there to defy any Coalition attack. Normally, such facilities are closed to the public. The next day scores of Iraqis followed suit, and by mid-November hundreds of Iraqi families were serving as human shields at some 80 palaces and industrial facilities across central Iraq. Then-Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahaf told the international media that the actions of the families were "voluntary expressing the real feelings of the Iraqis," but he acknowledged that Baghdad would encourage such acts to continue. According to Western press reports, many Iraqis had been lured into volunteering by the promise of extra food rations, and a number of the human shields received free meals at the sites. Credible reports from Iraqis later stated that local Ba'th party operatives had coerced a number of citizens into participating as a demonstration of their loyalty to Saddam after Iraqi officials had determined that there were not enough "willing" volunteers. In December 1997, Saddam permitted UN inspectors into several of the suspect weapons sites, and the Iraqi human shield volunteers dispersed.
Saddam also has tried to exploit the support of foreign activists and legislators for the Iraqi people by encouraging members of various groups to serve as human shield volunteers.
Putting Iraqi Civilians and Civilian Facilities at RiskIn another "lower-cost" approach, Saddam has regularly imposed involuntary service as human shields on Iraqi citizens by authorizing the placement of high-value military units and equipment in heavily populated civilian neighborhoods and near civilian facilities, such as mosques, markets, schools, and cultural sites. The tactic is designed to conceal these military assets but also to deteror, failing that, to capitalize onCoalition attacks on them through the high likelihood of collateral civilian casualties.
The Current CrisisSaddam already is employing some variations of his human shields tactic in anticipation of a possible military confrontation with a US-led coalition. These steps are consistent with Saddam's behavior during past crises, when he has attempted to maintain a broad range of political and diplomatic options through which to play up divisions at the Security Council and among Coalition partners.
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