CIA and the Kurds, 1972-75

[KURDISTANICA]

I am researching the American policy towards the Kurdish-Iraqi Civil
War,1961-1975. The purpose of my research is to examine the
culpability of American policy makers in the so-called “selling out”
of the Kurds in1975, when the Shah signed the Algiers Accord with
Iraq.

Thanks to the help of documents at NARA, the Nixon and Ford Libraries,
and those from FRUS (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/e4/
index.htm), I have been able to get a good sense of the US policy up
until the end of1972, when the CIA began a covert operation in
conjunction with Savak and Mossad. The problem is that from late 1972
to 1975 there is very little information available on the CIA’s role,
besides a great article by David Korn (http://www.meforum.org/220/the-
last-years-of-mustafa-barzani).Another good study that discusses the
American role – and the Israeli role– in detail is Jonathan Randal’s
After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness:My Encounters with Kurdistan
(Westview Press, 1998). Of course, a key source is Kissinger’s Years
of Renewal (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999),which provided a number
of useful details of the operation to the debate,but was again not
particularly specific about how the operation was conducted. Other
studies on the American policy are Michael Gunter’s“United States
Foreign Policy toward the Kurds,” in Orient No. 3 (1999):pp. 427-37
and Lokman Meho’s “Pawns in a Deadly Game: Iraqi Kurds and the United
States, 1972-1975,” in International Studies 32 (January-March1995):
pp. 41-55. In both of these instances, however, I have found that CIA:
The Pike Report (Nottingham, England: Spokesman Books, 1977) is used
primarily for their discussion of the CIA’s role in the conflict.
However,this report is not particularly detailed about what exactly
the CIA did,or how they did it, rather it explains simply that
something was done.

Thus, I have a number of questions that I hope G2K might help answer.

1) What role did the CIA play in the operation? Training? Logistical?
2) What role did Savak play in the operation? Or Mossad?
3) How coordinated were the joint operations?
4) By what means were weapons transferred to the Kurds and how was
this done to ensure plausible deniability?
5) Did US special operations forces participate in the conflict?
6) How did CIA communicate with Barzani?
7) Were any other countries, such as Jordan or Turkey, involved in the
operation?

I look forward to engaging in a discussion of these questions with
theG2K.

Most Sincerely,

Bryan R. Gibson <b.r.g...@lse.ac.uk>
PhD. Candidate
London School of Economics