U.S. Restitution of the Iraq Secret Police Files from Saddam Hussein’s Regime Regarding the Kurds in Iraq
Affiliation(s)
1 The Presidency, Kurdology Center, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. 2 Director Archives & Special Collections, University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado, USA.
1 The Presidency, Kurdology Center, University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. 2 Director Archives & Special Collections, University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado, USA.
ABSTRACT
More than twenty years after Kurdish forces captured mass quantities of Iraqi secret police files chronicling the Anfal genocide and other events in their March 1991 uprising, a digital copy of these documents has been repatriated to Iraqi Kurdistan. Following the military transport of the documents to the U.S. and their scanning by the Defense Intelligence Agency, both a copy of these digital documents and the original files were acquired by the Archives at the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU-Boulder) in 1997. The files were thereafter made available to researchers and investigators from around the world searching for evidence to bring Saddam Hussein and his senior leadership to justice for grave violations of international humanitarian law. In 2012, Prof. Ferdinand Hennerbichler, an Austrian historian and former diplomat, and Prof. Bruce P Montgomery, director of the CU-Boulder Archives, commenced nearly two years of negotiations with the aim of restoring this archive of atrocity to the Iraqi Kurdish people. On September 30, 2014, in a formal high-level ceremony at CU-Boulder, a copy of the digital Iraqi secret police files was handed over to a visiting Kurdish delegation representing the Zheen Archive Center in Sulaimaniyah, which assumed custody of the files, and the regional government in Iraqi Kurdistan. The repatriated archive will be used to further reconciliation and democratization of the Kurdistan region and Iraq as a whole.
More than twenty years after Kurdish forces captured mass quantities of Iraqi secret police files chronicling the Anfal genocide and other events in their March 1991 uprising, a digital copy of these documents has been repatriated to Iraqi Kurdistan. Following the military transport of the documents to the U.S. and their scanning by the Defense Intelligence Agency, both a copy of these digital documents and the original files were acquired by the Archives at the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU-Boulder) in 1997. The files were thereafter made available to researchers and investigators from around the world searching for evidence to bring Saddam Hussein and his senior leadership to justice for grave violations of international humanitarian law. In 2012, Prof. Ferdinand Hennerbichler, an Austrian historian and former diplomat, and Prof. Bruce P Montgomery, director of the CU-Boulder Archives, commenced nearly two years of negotiations with the aim of restoring this archive of atrocity to the Iraqi Kurdish people. On September 30, 2014, in a formal high-level ceremony at CU-Boulder, a copy of the digital Iraqi secret police files was handed over to a visiting Kurdish delegation representing the Zheen Archive Center in Sulaimaniyah, which assumed custody of the files, and the regional government in Iraqi Kurdistan. The repatriated archive will be used to further reconciliation and democratization of the Kurdistan region and Iraq as a whole.
KEYWORDS
Kurds, Iraq, Saddam-Hussein-Regime, Kurdish Genozide, Secret Police Files Former Torture Center Sulaimaniyah, U.S.-Digitalized Documents at UC-Boulder, Restitution to the Iraqi Kurds
Kurds, Iraq, Saddam-Hussein-Regime, Kurdish Genozide, Secret Police Files Former Torture Center Sulaimaniyah, U.S.-Digitalized Documents at UC-Boulder, Restitution to the Iraqi Kurds
Cite this paper
Hennerbichler, F. & Montgomery, B. (2015). U.S. Restitution of the Iraq Secret Police Files from Saddam Hussein’s Regime Regarding the Kurds in Iraq. Advances in Anthropology, 5, 31-38. doi: 10.4236/aa.2015.51004.
Hennerbichler, F. & Montgomery, B. (2015). U.S. Restitution of the Iraq Secret Police Files from Saddam Hussein’s Regime Regarding the Kurds in Iraq. Advances in Anthropology, 5, 31-38. doi: 10.4236/aa.2015.51004.
References
[1] Miller-Huey, M. (2014). UCB Press Release.
http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2014/09/22/visiting-kurdish-delegation-receive-iraqi-secret-police-documents-cu [2] Finley, B. (2014). Iraq Kurds Collect History at CU, Want “new Israel” Kurdistan. The Denver Post, 1 October 2014.
http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_26638715/iraq-kurds-collect-history-at-cu-want-new [3] Kuta, S. (2014). Iraqi Secret Police Files Returned to Kurdish Delegation at CU-Boulder. Documents Contain Parallels to Current Kurdish Fight against Islamic State. Daily Camera, 30 September 2014.
http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_26635126/iraqi-secret-police-files-returned-kurdish-delegation-at [4] Lamp, M. (2014). CU-Boulder to Give Kurdish Delegation Critical Historical Documents. Colorado Public Radio, 29 September 2014. http://www.cpr.org/news/story/cu-boulder-give-kurdish-delegation-critical-historical-documents [5] Montgomery, B. P. (2001). The Iraqi Secret Police Files: A Documentary Record of the Anfal Genocide. Archivaria, 52, 69-99. http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/12815/14023 [6] Montgomery, B. P. (2010). Counterpoint. Returning Evidence to the Scene of the Crime: Why the Anfal Files Should Be Repatriated to Iraqi Kurdistan. Archivaria, 69, 143-171. [7] Montgomery, B. P. (2011). Immortality in the Secret Police Files: The Iraq Memory Foundation and the Baath Party Archive. International Journal of Cultural Property, 18, 309-336.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S094073911100018X [8] Montgomery, B. P. (2014). US Seizure, Exploitation, and Restitution of Saddam Hussein’s Archive of Atrocity. Journal of American Studies, 48, 559-593. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021875813002004 [9] Gellman, B., & Randal, J. C. (1992). U.S. to Airlift Archive of Atrocities Out of Iraq. The Washington Post, 19 May 1992 A12. [10] Human Rights Watch (1993). The Anfal Campaign against the Kurds. A Middle East Watch Report. Human Rights Watch. New York/Washington/Los Angeles/London, July 1993, Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 93-79064.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/iraqanfal/ [11] Kaslow, A. (1992). Documents Give Evidence of Atrocities against Iraqi Kurds. The Christian Science Monitor, 10 June 1992, 1, 4.
[1] Miller-Huey, M. (2014). UCB Press Release.
http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2014/09/22/visiting-kurdish-delegation-receive-iraqi-secret-police-documents-cu [2] Finley, B. (2014). Iraq Kurds Collect History at CU, Want “new Israel” Kurdistan. The Denver Post, 1 October 2014.
http://www.denverpost.com/environment/ci_26638715/iraq-kurds-collect-history-at-cu-want-new [3] Kuta, S. (2014). Iraqi Secret Police Files Returned to Kurdish Delegation at CU-Boulder. Documents Contain Parallels to Current Kurdish Fight against Islamic State. Daily Camera, 30 September 2014.
http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_26635126/iraqi-secret-police-files-returned-kurdish-delegation-at [4] Lamp, M. (2014). CU-Boulder to Give Kurdish Delegation Critical Historical Documents. Colorado Public Radio, 29 September 2014. http://www.cpr.org/news/story/cu-boulder-give-kurdish-delegation-critical-historical-documents [5] Montgomery, B. P. (2001). The Iraqi Secret Police Files: A Documentary Record of the Anfal Genocide. Archivaria, 52, 69-99. http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/viewFile/12815/14023 [6] Montgomery, B. P. (2010). Counterpoint. Returning Evidence to the Scene of the Crime: Why the Anfal Files Should Be Repatriated to Iraqi Kurdistan. Archivaria, 69, 143-171. [7] Montgomery, B. P. (2011). Immortality in the Secret Police Files: The Iraq Memory Foundation and the Baath Party Archive. International Journal of Cultural Property, 18, 309-336.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S094073911100018X [8] Montgomery, B. P. (2014). US Seizure, Exploitation, and Restitution of Saddam Hussein’s Archive of Atrocity. Journal of American Studies, 48, 559-593. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021875813002004 [9] Gellman, B., & Randal, J. C. (1992). U.S. to Airlift Archive of Atrocities Out of Iraq. The Washington Post, 19 May 1992 A12. [10] Human Rights Watch (1993). The Anfal Campaign against the Kurds. A Middle East Watch Report. Human Rights Watch. New York/Washington/Los Angeles/London, July 1993, Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 93-79064.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/iraqanfal/ [11] Kaslow, A. (1992). Documents Give Evidence of Atrocities against Iraqi Kurds. The Christian Science Monitor, 10 June 1992, 1, 4.