[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 379 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 379

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning the 
eighth anniversary of the massacre of over 5,000 Kurds as a result of a 
                gas bomb attack by the Iraqi Government.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 12, 1996

 Mr. Porter submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning the 
eighth anniversary of the massacre of over 5,000 Kurds as a result of a 
                gas bomb attack by the Iraqi Government.

Whereas over four million Kurds live in Iraq, composing 20 percent of the 
        population;
Whereas the Iraqi Government has continually taken violent actions against Kurds 
        living in Iraq;
Whereas, on March 17, 1988, the Iraqi Government, by its own admission, used 
        chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurd civilians in the Kurdish frontier 
        village of Halabja, resulting in the death of over 5,000 innocent 
        persons;
Whereas this terrible, inhumane act by the repressive Iraqi Government provoked 
        international outrage;
Whereas the Iraqi Government continued its use of chemical weapons against a 
        defenseless Kurdish population throughout 1988;
Whereas over 182,000 Iraqi Kurds were killed by the Iraqi Government during the 
        Anfal campaigns in 1988;
Whereas it was not until the international response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait 
        in 1990 that the international community instituted measures to destroy 
        Iraq's arsenal of weapons of mass destruction;
Whereas the Iraqi Government has laid over 20 million mines throughout the 
        Kurdish countryside which continue to hamper efforts of rehabilitation 
        of the displaced population;
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 of April 1, 1991, 
        demanded that Iraq cease repression of its citizens and called for an 
        international relief program for the Iraqi civilian population and, in 
        particular the Kurdish population;
Whereas, since the spring of 1991, the United States, Britain, and France have 
        enforced by daily overflights a no-fly zone over Iraq north of the 36th 
        parallel;
Whereas, in addition to the allied air umbrella, the United Nations carries out 
        relief and security operations in Iraq, with emphasis on the Kurdish 
        region;
Whereas, since 1991, the United States has provided approximately $1.2 billion 
        to support humanitarian and protective activities, known as Operation 
        Provide Comfort, on behalf of the Iraqi Kurds; and
Whereas there will never truly be peace for the Iraqi Kurds without justice 
        being carried out against their Iraqi perpetrators: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the United States Administration should--
            (1) mark the eighth anniversary of the death of over 5,000 
        Iraqi Kurds in the 1988 chemical attack by the Iraqi Government 
        on Halabja by commemorating all those innocent men, women, and 
        children who lost their lives;
            (2) reaffirm the United States' commitment to protect and 
        help the Kurdish people in Iraq, thus ensuring that the tragedy 
        of Halabja will never be repeated;
            (3) support efforts to promote a democratic alternative to 
        the present regime in Iraq which will assure the Kurdish people 
        the right to self-government through a federal system; and
            (4) renew efforts to establish an international war crime 
        tribunal to prosecute Iraqi leaders involved in crimes against 
        humanity and war crimes.
                                 <all>