Amiriyah shelter
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The Amiriyah shelter[1] was an air-raid shelter ("Public Shelter No. 25") in the Amiriyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq. It was destroyed by USAF two laser-guided "smart bombs" on 13 February 1991 during the Gulf War, killing more than 400 civilians. According to U.S. government sources, the attack was based on signals and human intelligence reports suggesting the bunker was a military command site.
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[edit] Targeting decisions leading to the bombing
Charles Allen, CIA's National Intelligence Officer for Warning supported the selection of bomb targets during the first Gulf War. He coordinated intelligence with Colonel John Warden, who headed the Air Force's planning cell known as "Checkmate." On 10 February 1991 Allen presented his estimate to Col. Warden that Public Shelter Number 25 in the Southwestern Baghdad suburb of Amiriyah had become an alternative command post and showed no sign of being used as a civilian bomb shelter. On 11 February, Shelter Number 25 was added to the Air Force's attack plan. At 4:30 am the morning of 13 February, two F-117 stealth bombers each dropped a 2,000 pound, laser-guided, GBU-27 munition on the shelter. The first cut through ten feet of reinforced concrete before a time-delayed fuze exploded. Minutes later the second bomb followed the path cut by the first bomb. [2]
Satellite photos and electronic intercepts indicating this alternative use were regarded as circumstantial and unconvincing to Brigadier General Buster Glosson, who had primary responsibility for targeting. Glosson's comment was that the assessment wasn't "worth a shit." A human source in Iraq, who had previously proven accurate warned the CIA that Iraqi intelligence had begun operating from the shelter. On 11 February, Shelter Number 25 was added to the Air Force's attack plan.[2]
Jeremy Bowen, a BBC correspondent, was one of the first television reporters on the scene. Bowen was given access to the site and did not find evidence of military use. [3]
The White House, in a report titled Apparatus of Lies: Crafting Tragedy, states that US intelligence sources reported the blockhouse was being used for military command purposes. The report goes on to accuse the Iraqi government of deliberately keeping "select civilians" in a military facility at Amiriyah.[4]
According to Charles Heyman of Jane's World Armies, the signals intelligence observed at the shelter was from an aerial antenna that was connected to a communications center some 300 yards away.[5]
[edit] Missile attack on the shelter
In the shelter at the time of the bombing were hundreds of Iraqi civilians. The previous evening had been the celebration of Eid Al-Fitr. More than 400 people were killed. The dead were overwhelmingly women and children because men and boys over the age of 15 had left the shelter to give the women and children some privacy. The blast sent shrapnel into surrounding buildings, shattering glass windows and splintering their foundations.[5]
The shelter is maintained as a memorial to those who died within it, featuring photos of those killed. According to visitors' reports, Umm Greyda, a woman who lost eight children in the bombing moved into the shelter helped create the memorial and serves as its primary guide.[6][7]
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ The name Amiriyah can also be spelt Amiriya, Amariya and Amariyah. There is no agreed spelling for the name in English. For example, The BBC uses all four spelling on its web site. CNN uses Amariya, Amariyah and Amiriya, while the Washington Post uses Amiriyah, Amiriya and Amariyah (once).
- ^ a b Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War, Rick Atkinson, 1993, p. 284-285
- ^ Report aired on BBC 1, 14 February 1991
- ^ White House, Crafting Tragedy.
- ^ a b Scott Peterson, "'Smarter' bombs still hit civilians, Christian Science Monitor, 22 October 2002.
- ^ John Dear, S.J., Iraq Journal: Notes from a peace delegation to a ravaged land, Soujourners Magazine, 1999.
- ^ Riverbend, Dedicated to the Memory of L.A.S., 15 February 2004.
