Humanitarian Intervention: Assisting the Iraqi Kurds in Operation PROVIDE COMFORT, 1991 (review)

Gordon Rudd's Humanitarian Intervention tells the story of the 1991 intervention into northern Iraq to assist with humanitarian relief for and repatriation of Iraqi Kurds from Turkey. The author, who served as the U.S. Army field historian for Operation Provide Comfort, intended to produce "an operational study of a humanitarian intervention" (p. vii) and focuses on the military aspects of the operation. He argues convincingly that military forces dedicated to fighting war can adapt to complex humanitarian emergencies (pp. 197–98).

The book was based on primary sources provided by the U.S. military such as After Action Reviews and briefing documents and on a significant number of interviews with key personnel from the U.S. Army and other military organizations. This gives the reader an insider's view and a clear perspective. The book is organized chronologically and traces the evolving military operations in eastern Turkey and northern Iraq from the 1991 Gulf War to the imposition and maintenance of the northern no-fly zone over Iraq.

Rudd does an excellent job of explaining how and why there were various iterations of the Joint Task Forces conducting operations in eastern Turkey during and after the 1991 Gulf War. The reader is treated to a clear and detailed description of the various tasks associated with a humanitarian mission and the relationship between the mission (with its associated tasks) and the command structures. A series of excellent maps and organizational charts provide vivid images of where forces were located and how they were organized. Despite the book being a U.S. Army history, it provides details on the contributions of other services, such as the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the U.S. Air Force's "Prime BEEF" Base Emergency Engineering Forces (pp. 53–54, 216, 234, 133–36, 66, 112, 232–33). Rudd also describes the varying relationships between the military forces and the United Nations (pp. 91, 98–101, 172–73, and 201–5), the performance of Civil Affairs units and the criticisms they received from other organizations (pp. 138–43), and the effect of command structures on the performance of the military medical organizations in Provide Comfort (pp. 161–65). The frank and candid descriptions of issues add to the clarity of the book's perspective on the operation.

Rudd has not just told the story of the U.S. Army in this operation; he has told the story of the U.S. Army contribution to a combined and joint mission that was the first of several of its kind to occur in the 1990s (pp. 240– 43). It is definitely worth reading to understand how complex humanitarian emergencies can be addressed by joint military organizations. It not only informs those interested in the details of the coalition's operations in Iraq but those interested in military responses to complex emergencies or command and control of joint operations. Students of any of those topics would be well advised to read it.