A Problem From Hell

by Samantha Power

  131. Congressional Record, 100th Cong., 2nd sess., 1988, 134, pt. 151:S17203.

  132. See, for example, Gordon M. Burck and Charles C. Flowerree, International Handbook on Chemical Weapons Proliferation (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991), pp. 101–114.

  133. Elaine Sciolino, “U.S. Retaliates for Iraqi Expulsion of Diplomat by Replying in Kind,” New York Times, November 18, 1988, p. A15.

  134. Middle East Watch, Human Rights in Iraq, p. 110.

  135. Middle East Watch, Genocide in Iraq, p. 299.

  136. Ibid., pp. 306–307.

  137. Letter no. 14951, dated November 23, 1988, from the Security Secretariat for the Autonomous Region to the Security Bureau for Sulaymaniyah, citing instructions of the Northern Bureau Command. Cited in Middle East Watch, Genocide in Iraq, pp. 300–301.

  138. Statements from a November 8, 1988, meeting relayed to Amn (the internal Iraq security force) chiefs in the autonomous regions in a set of instructions from the region’s security director, dated November 21, 1988, and marked “secret and confidential.” Cited in Middle East Watch, Genocide in Iraq, p. 321.

  139. Middle East Watch, Genocide in Iraq, pp. 323–324.

  140. Cited in ibid., pp. 352–353.

  141. “Guidelines for U.S.–Iraq Policy,” secret State Department internal paper, January 20, 1989, p. 2; reproduced as 00761 in National Security Archive, ed., Iraqgate.

  142. Baker and DeFrank, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 263.

  143. Ibid.

  144. “Guidelines for U.S.–Iraq Policy,” p. 6.

  145. Middle East Watch, Human Rights in Iraq, p. 113. The resolution was defeated 13-17. See United Nations Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Official Records, supplement no. 2, Report on the 45th Session (30 January–10 March 1989), E/1989/20, E/CN.4/1989/86, p. 178.

  146. Pamela Fessler, “Congress’ Record on Saddam: Decade of Talk, Not Action,” Congressional Quarterly, April 27, 1991, p. 1074.

  147. See Alan Cowell, “Iraq Chief, Boasting of Poison Gas, Warns of Disaster If Israelis Strike,” New York Times, April 3, 1990, p. A1; Patrick E. Tyler, “Iraqi Warns of Using Poison Gas; Leader Says Attacker Faces Devastation; U.S. Decries Remarks,” Washington Post, April 3, 1990, p. A1.

  148. The five-member delegation, which met with Hussein on April 12, 1990, included Dole, Simpson, Ohio Democrat Howard Metzenbaum, Idaho Republican James McClure, and Alaska Republican Frank Murkowski. Although they handed Hussein a letter at the start of the meeting that stated their “deep concerns” about his military buildup and threats to use chemical weapons against Israel, the meeting was more fawning than demanding. After the invasion of Kuwait, the Iraqis released a transcript of the meeting that the senators did not dispute. According to the transcript, Metzenbaum said, “I am now aware that you are a strong and intelligent man and that you want peace.” Simpson stated, “I believe that your problems lie with the Western media and not with the U.S. government. . . . The press is spoiled and conceited. All these journalists consider themselves brilliant political scientists. They do not want to see anything succeeding or achieving its objectives. My advice is that you allow those bastards to come here and see things for themselves.” Douglas Waller, “Glass House,” The New Republic, November 5, 1990, p. 14. See also Pamela Fessler, “Haunted by a Meeting with Saddam,” Congressional Quarterly, April 27, 1991, p. 1077.

  149. Pamela Fessler, “Congress’ Record on Saddam: Decade of Talk, Not Action,” Congressional Quarterly, April 27, 1991, p. 1075.

  150. Congressional Record, 101st Cong., 2nd sess., 1990, 136, pt. 99:S10904.

  151. Ibid., pt. 99:S10908.

  152. Amnesty International, Iraq: Children, Innocent Victims of Political Repression (New York: Amnesty International, 1989); Congressional Record, 101st Cong., 2nd sess., 1990, 136, pt. 98:S10832.

  153. In the course of rejecting Saddam Hussein’s conditional offer of withdrawal from Kuwait, President Bush repeated this statement at least twice during the course of the day, once before the American Academy for Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C., and again before employees at the Raytheon missile systems plant in Andover, Massachusetts. White House briefing, Federal News Service, February 15, 1991.

  154. During the March fighting the United States intervened only once, when Iraq used fixed-wing jets to attack the Kurds, which violated the terms of the March 5 cease-fire accord. American fighter planes shot down two Iraqi bombers that had attacked Kirkuk. The situation was little better in the south, where Iraqi soldiers who managed to escape from their units said their commanders had promised 250 Iraqi dinars in return for each woman or child killed and up to 5,000 dinars for any adult man eliminated. Often loudspeakers would announce safe passage out of the towns on designated routes and then helicopter gunships would strafe those routes. Mosques, cemeteries, libraries, and all the emblems of Shiite life were targeted. Bob Drogin, “Iraq: Saddam Hussein Offers Soldiers Bounty for Killing Babies—Shiites Face Retribution,” Guardian, March 29, 1991, p. 22.

  155. Congressional Record, 102nd Cong., 1st sess., 1991, 137, pt. 56:S4647.

  156. An additional 800,000 had fled to Iran, and some 700,000 were en route there.

  157. Thomas L. Friedman, “Baker Sees and Hears Kurds’ Pain in a Brief Visit at Turkish Border,” New York Times, April 9, 1991, p. A1.

  158. William Safire, “Follow the Kurds,” New York Times, March 28, 1991, p. A25.

  159. William Safire, “Bush’s Moral Crisis,” New York Times, April 1, 1991, p. A17.

  160. “A Quagmire After All,” Newsweek, April 29, 1991, p. 23.

  161. Ibid.

  162. The operation represented a stepping up of previous allied relief efforts. U.S. Air Force transport planes began dropping food and other relief to the Kurdish refugees on April 7, 1991. The last of the U.S. troops in northern Iraq left in July. Security was henceforth provided by a mobile strike force stationed in Turkey and allied planes overhead.

  163. Handwritten internal memo from the “Person in Charge of Political Affairs,” Amn (Erbil), October 18, 1990; cited in Middle East Watch, Genocide in Iraq, p. 343.

  164. See Christine Gosden, “Halabja 11 Years Later; More Deaths, Little Progress,” Washington Post, March 10, 1999, p. A23; Christine Gosden and Mike Amitay, “Lessons from Halabja,” Washington Post, August 20, 1999, p. A35; Christine Gosden, “Why I Went, What I Saw,” Washington Post, March 11, 1998, p. A19.

  165. Gosden, “Why I Went, What I Saw.”

  166. Middle East Watch, Genocide in Iraq, p. 30.

  167. Judith Miller, “Iraq Accused,” New York Times Magazine, January 3, 1993, p. 13.

  168. Ibid., p. 32.

  169. Middle East Watch, Genocide in Iraq, p. 345.

  170. Columbia University law professor Lori Damrosch’s June 4, 1993, memo to Middle East Watch Director Andrew Whitley, “Kurdish Genocide Case—Legal Memorandum for Governments.”

  Chapter 9, Bosnia

  1. Carole Rogel, The Breakup of Yugoslavia and the War in Bosnia (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998), p. 31.

  2. See Ed Vulliamy, Seasons in Hell: Understanding Bosnia’s War (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994); Roy Gutman, Witness to Genocide: The 1993 Pulitzer Prize–Winning Dispatches on the “Ethnic Cleansing” of Bosnia (New York: Macmillan, 1993); and Rezak Hukanovic, Tenth Circle of Hell: A Memoir of Life in the Death Camps of Bosnia (New York: Basic Books, 1996). The best account of the political machinations at work behind the terror is Laura Silber and Allan Little’s Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation (New York: Penguin, 1997).

  3. Claude Lanzmann, Shoah: An Oral History of the Holocaust (New York: Pantheon, 1985), p. 139.

  4. Anna Husarska, “City of Fear,” New Republic, September 21, 1992, p. 18. In 1992 Serbs expelled and murdered Muslim and Croat citizens alike. Because the Croat and Serb authorities eventually teamed up to destroy Bosnia, however, my focus in this chapter is on the Serb destruction of Bosnia’s Muslims. There were of course tens of th
ousands of Croats and Serbs who remained loyal to the Muslim-led Bosnian government throughout the war. Many exposed themselves to far greater danger by remaining in Bosnian territory and refusing to take shelter with ethnic nationalists in Serb- or Croat-held land.

  5. Richard Ben Cramer, Bob Dole (New York: Vintage, 1995), pp. 60–62.

  6. Bob Dole, “Odd Men Out,” Congressional Record, 101st Cong., 2nd sess., 1990, 136, pt. 87: S9475.

  7. Bob Dole, “Yugoslavia,” Congressional Record, 101st Cong., 2nd sess., 1990, 136, pt. 117:S13488.

  8. Bob Dole, “Get Smart About Foreign Aid,” Washington Post, March 18, 1991, p. A11.

  9. Dole, “Yugoslavia.”

  10. Helsinki Watch, War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina, vol. 1 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1992), p. 2.

  11. Ibid., p. 17.

  12. Ibid., p. 2.

  13. Boris Johnson and Michael Montgomery, “Yugoslav Ceasefire; Agreed EC Ultimatium: Fighting Must Stop ‘if you want to enter Europe of the 20th Century,’” Daily Telegraph, June 29, 1991, p. 1.

  14. James A. Baker III with Thomas M. DeFrank, The Politics of Diplomacy: Revolution, War and Peace, 1989–1992 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1995), p. 637.

  15. Warren Zimmermann, Origins of a Catastrophe: Yugoslavia and Its Destroyers—the Last Ambassador Tells What Happened and Why (New York: Times Books, 1996), p. 24.

  16. Graham Stewart, Burying Caesar: Churchill, Chamberlain, and the Battle for the Tory Party (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1999), p. 300.

  17. Zimmerman, Origins of a Catastrophe, p. 22.

  18. “After the War: The White House; Excerpts from Bush’s News Conference on Postwar Plans,” New York Times, March 2, 1991, p. A5.

  19. “Excerpts from Address of Weinberger,” New York Times, November 29, 1984, p. A5. The doctrine was of course erratically applied, as, for instance, when the Reagan administration intervened in Latin America, sponsoring and training anti-Communist forces.

  20. Colin Powell, My American Journey (New York: Random House, 1995), pp. 148–49, 576–77.

  21. “Deterring Serbian Aggression in Bosnia-Herzegovina,” confidential action memorandum from Thomas M. T. Niles and Eugene McAllister to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, April 20, 1992.

  22. “Ethnic Cleansing,” Newsweek, August 17, 1992, p. 19.

  23. “Bosnia-Herzegovina: Stabilization,” confidential information memorandum from Thomas M. T. Niles to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, April 14, 1992.

  24. Ibid.

  25. Laura Blumenfeld, “A Sense of Resignation: The Bosnia Dissenters; Three Young Men Cut Short Their Careers on Principle,” Washington Post, August 28, 1993, p. F1.

  26. Stephen A. Holmes, “State Dept. Balkan Aides Explain Why They Quit,” New York Times, August 26, 1993, p. A12.

  27. Russell Johnston, The Yugoslav Conflict: Chronology of Events from 30th May 1991–8th November 1993 (Paris: Defence Committee of the Western European Union, 1993).

  28. Confidential cable from Ambassador Warren Zimmerman to Secretary of State James Baker, May 12, 1992. Milosevic’s father committed suicide in 1962; his mother did so in 1973.

  29. In 1896 the Spanish general Valeriano Weyler instituted martial law over portions of Cuba and relocated all noncombatants in certain areas to concentration camps. He destroyed the emptied villages. Anyone caught outside the camps was considered a rebel. At the time it was estimated that as many as 400,000 to 500,000 were killed in the camps, but more recent calculations suggest that a quarter of the original estimate may be more accurate. Generals Frederick Roberts and Horatio Kitchener organized concentration camps in South Africa in connection with similar scorched-earth tactics against the Boers. In an effort to neutralize the Boers’ guerrilla tactics and to create a better-defined military front, the British began destroying Boer farms and relocating the inhabitants into camps. Disease ran rampant in these camps. Official estimates of the number of people who died in the camps have ranged between 18,000 and 28,000. See S. B. Spies, Methods of Barbarism: Roberts and Kitchener and Civilians in Boer Republics (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1977), p. 148; Thomas Packenham, The Boer War (New York: Random House, 1993), p. 287.

  30. Mark Danner, “America and the Bosnia Genocide,” New York Review of Books, December 4, 1997, p. 64.

  31. Vulliamy, Seasons in Hell, p. 201.

  32. Roy Gutman, “Prisoners of Serbia’s War,” Newsday, July 19, 1992, p. 7.

  33. Roy Gutman, “Like Auschwitz,” Newsday, July 21, 1992.

  34. Roy Gutman, “If Only They Could Flee,” Newsday, July 26, 1992; Roy Gutman, “There Is No Food, There Is No Air,” Newsday, July 19, 1992, p. 39.

  35. State Department briefing, Federal News Service, August 3, 1992; emphasis added.

  36. Developments in Yugoslavia and Europe—August 1992, Hearing before the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, 102nd Cong., 2nd sess., August 4, 1992, p. 5.

  37. Don Oberdorfer, “State Dept. Backtracks on Atrocity Reports; Calls for Action on Serb Camps Rise,” Washington Post, August 5, 1992, p. A1.

  38. Warren Strobel, Late-Breaking Foreign Policy (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Institute for Peace, 1997), p. 150.

  39. Developments in Yugoslavia and Europe—August 1992, p. 14.

  40. R. W. Apple Jr., “State Dept. Asks War Crimes Inquiry into Bosnia Camps,” New York Times, August 6, 1992, p. A1; State Department briefing, Federal News Service, August 5, 1992.

  41. Judy Keen, “Bush Blames ‘Sleaze’ for Lag in Polls,” USA Today, August 5, 1992, p. A1.

  42. Timothy Clifford, “Clinton, Gore Slam Foreign Failures,” Newsday, August 6, 1992, p. 17.

  43. Clifford Krauss, “U.S. Backs Away from Charge of Atrocities in Bosnia Camps,” New York Times, August 5, 1992, p. A12.

  44. “Clinton-Gore on the Road Again,” Inside Politics, CNN, August 5, 1992.

  45. Krauss, “U.S. Backs Away from Charge of Atrocities.”

  46. Nigel Baker, “Sending in the Troops,” RTNDA Communicator, February 1996, p. 25, quoted in Susan Moeller, Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War, and Death (New York: Routledge, 1999), p. 267.

  47. Richard Sobel, The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam: Constraining the Colossus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 183.

  48. “Rescue Bosnia,” The New Republic, August 17 and 24, 1992, p. 7.

  49. Jon Western, “Warring Ideas: Explaining U.S. Military Intervention in Regional Conflicts,” Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 2000, p. 300; Network Evening News Abstracts, Television News Archives, Vanderbilt University.

  50. Joel Brand, Karen Breslav, and Rod Nordland, “Life and Death in the Camps,” Newsweek, August 17, 1992, p. 22.

  51. Cited in Moeller, Compassion Fatigue, p. 269.

  52. “Europe’s Trail of Tears,” U.S. News and World Report, July 27, 1992, p. 41.

  53. “Atrocity in Bosnia,” Washington Post, August 3, 1992, p. A18.

  54. “Milosevic Isn’t Hitler, But . . . ,” New York Times, August 4, 1992, p. A18; “What Goes on in Bosnia’s Camps?” Chicago Tribune, August 6, 1992, sec. 1, p. 24.

  55. “Stop the Death Camps: An Open Letter to World Leaders,” New York Times, August 5, 1992, p. A14.

  56. “Atrocity and Outrage,” Time, August 17, 1992.

  57. Anthony Lewis, “Yesterday’s Man,” New York Times, August 3, 1992, p. A19.

  58. Ruth Marcus and Barton Gelman, “Bush Pushes for Access to Serb Camps But Is Wary of Getting Bogged Down,” Washington Post, August 8, 1992, p. A15. White House briefing, Federal News Service, August 7, 1992.

  59. Richard Holbrooke, To End a War (New York: Random House, 1998), p. 36.

  60. Ibid., p. 39.

  61. Ibid., p. 42.

  62. Only in October 1992 was the U.S. intelligence community tasked to compile evidence of crimes against humanity. They had previously collected imagery but only to
guard against the possibility that U.S. military forces might be deployed to the region. They had inquired about the number of Serb troops deployed, the details of their force disposition, and their standard order of battle doctrine. If an image did not help answer these kinds of questions, it was catalogued and filed away.

  63. Sobel, Impact of Public Opinion, p. 185.

  64. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Hearing of the Europe and Middle East Subcommittee, Developments in Yugoslavia, August 4, 1992.

  65. Transcript of news conference by President George Bush, “Situation in Bosnia-Hercegovina, from Kennebunkport, Maine,” Federal News Service, August 8, 1992.

  66. Western, “Warring Ideas,” p. 304.

  67. Interview, Newsmaker Saturday, CNN, August 1, 1992.

  68. White House briefing, Federal News Service, August 6, 1992.

  69. U.S. Department of State Dispatch Supplement, September 1992, p. 14.

  70. Mark Danner, “Clinton, the UN, and the Bosnian Disaster,” New York Review of Books, December 18, 1997, p. 66, quoting “Method to the Madness,” decision brief, Center for Security Policy, Washington, D.C., October 2, 1992, p. 3.

  71. “News Conference with President Bush,” Federal News Service, August 7, 1992.

  72. Barton Gellman, “Defense Planners Making Case Against Intervention in Yugoslavia,” Washington Post, June 13, 1992, p. A16; Eric Schmitt, “Conflict in the Balkans: Bush Calls Allies on a Joint Effort to Help Sarajevo,” New York Times, June 29, 1992, p. A6.

  73. Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, “Situation in Bosnia and Appropriate US and Western Responses,” Federal News Service, August 11, 1992.

  74. Western, “Warring Ideas,” p. 287.

  75. After the U.S. intervention in Somalia went sour in 1993 and eighteen U.S. soldiers were killed in a Mogadishu firefight, the bogey became known as “Vietmalia.”