Chapter One

Prologue

In 1918 the Grand Sharif Hussein Ibn Ali of the Hejaz (the Hejaz is an area in Saudi Arabia), leader of the Great Arab Revolt, with the help of Lawrence of Arabia launched his successful attack on Damascus then part of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. The fall of Damascus was the deathblow to the Empire. Hussein had acted on promises from Britain, in the person of Sir Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner in Egypt, of independence for all the Arab nations of Asia after the war in return for their help in defeating the Turks. In the event, Britain reneged on the promises. In the San Remo Agreement, Mark Sykes and Charles Georges-Picot (for the British and French governments, respectively) secretly divided up the Middle East between France and Britain into zones of influence, Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq fell under the British Mandate while Syria and Lebanon went to France. The victors generously ceded to themselves a 25% share of the proceeds of Iraqi oil.

Grand Sharif Hussein Ibn Ali of the Hejaz

Churchill offered Transjordan to Abdullah second son of Hussein Ibn Ali and Iraq to Faisal his third son where he was made king of a constitutional monarchy. Faisal was by far the more experienced warrior of the two and was a friend of Lawrence of Arabia. It was said that their father was angry at his sons’ acceptance of these kingdoms as he was aiming to establish a great Arab Empire himself.

Emir (later King) Faisal’s delegation at Versailles, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Left to right: Rustum Haidar, Nuri as-Said, Prince Faisal, Captain Pisani (behind Faisal), T.E. Lawrence, Faisal’s black slave (name unknown), Captain Hassan Khadri.

The photo above is symbolic of the past and the future. It gives an indication of the past as it shows the slave-owning Faisal introducing a feudal medieval ethos to the new state. The future is underlined by his coterie of some British Army Officers that included Lawrence of Arabia and the sinister Nuri as-Said. He was the man who exerted a Rasputin like influence over Faisal and succeeding Iraqi monarchs on behalf of Britain until his death during the coup that overthrew the monarchy in July 1957.

Shortly after the coup the Ba’ath Party came to power and shortly after that Saddam Hussein was in de facto control. Iraq and Iran were never good neighbours from the time of the Persian Empire and when the Ayatollah Khomeni came to power in Iran Saddam went to war with him to counter Iran’s fundamentalist ambitions in the area.

From CIA Map of Iraq Oil Infrastructure 2003 showing the Oil fields on the Iraq-Kuwait border.

Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, the University of Texas at Austin.

By virtue of Saddam going to war against a perceived Fundamentalist threat in the area he was supported by the US. By the end of the war Iraq had incurred massive debts particularly to Kuwait and these would have to be paid out of Iraq’s oil revenues. In addition, the infrastructure of the country would have to be restored. However, in defiance of OPEC agreements to control the output of oil, Kuwait greatly exceeded its quota. Predictably the price of oil plummeted and Iraq was hard put to repay its debts. Iraq regarded the Kuwaiti action as economic warfare. With some justification Iraq also accused the Kuwaitis of slant drilling into the Iraqi portion of the Rumayiah South oil well straddling the border. On 2nd August 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait and the US and UK became alarmed and felt that this could be the first step in an Iraqi cascade type conquest of the oil-rich states of the Gulf and eventually Saudi Arabia. Four days after the invasion the UN was mobilised and the Security Council in Resolution 661 imposed sanctions and issued an ultimatum to Saddam to withdraw from Kuwait. Saddam ignored the ultimatum and hostilities commenced. Following a five week aerial and missile bombardment of Iraq, Allied forces of the UN entered Kuwait on 22nd/23rd February 1991 and routed the Iraqi army from there with massive loss of Iraqi life and equipment and low casualties on the Allied side.

A ceasefire was declared on 28th February; the ground war had lasted 100 hours. Sanctions imposed on Iraq by the UN were continued, to be lifted when Iraq complied with UN requests to disclose details of their Chemical, Biological and Nuclear programmes. They also had to account for all Weapons of Mass Destruction still in their arsenal and to destroy such weapons under UN supervision. A special UN force of Inspectors was despatched to Iraq to search for such weapons. Iraq refused to fully co-operate and sanctions were continued.

Acting on promises of assistance from President Bush Snr the Shiites in the south and the Kurds in the north rose in rebellion. The Americans, however, decided to disengage so the remnants of the Iraqi army put down uprisings with such savage ferocity that the UN imposed no-fly zones in the south and the north. In addition the Iraqis were ordered out of Kurdistan and the Kurds finally had a form of self-government. The sanctions caused severe hardship to the unfortunate Iraqi and Kurdish populations. It is estimated by reliable International Agencies that between 350,000 and 500,000 children died as a result of their imposition.These people had already endured almost 20 years of frightening oppression and the enforced carnage of the Iran/Iraq war and were now required to suffer again as the big powers danced out their minuet. Eventually the suffering became so indefensible that the UN passed Resolution 986 in 1996. This permitted Iraq to sell about $2 billion worth of oil over a six-month period. This was later increased to $5 billion every six months at the request of the UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Iraq, Dennis Halliday.

Banque Nationale de Paris SA, agreed to open the escrow account provided for in Security Council Resolution 986 on behalf of the United Nations for the receipt of funds (from Iraqi Oil sales) and for the making of payments pursuant to that resolution.The money was to buy food, medicines and help restore electrical infrastructure. It was named ‘The Oil for Food Programme’ and had to be formally renewed every six months by UN resolution. The proceeds of the Oil Sales were shared out as follows:

OIL SALES AND UN ALLOCATION ACCOUNTS

Account Purpose

59% Humanitarian Goods/Services for Centre – South Iraq

25% Compensation Fund to Kuwait as a Result of Invasion by Iraqi Army

13% Humanitarian Goods/Services for Iraqi Kurdistan Region

2.2% Operational Costs for UN Humanitarian Agencies

0.8% Operational Costs for UN Weapons Inspectors

The share out between Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq was supposed to reflect the population ratio between the two entities. The funds allocated to the UN agencies operating the Oil for Food Programme was 2.2% of $10 billion or $220 million per annum and a further $80million to the UN Weapons Inspectors. After Resolution 986 was ratified and implementation commenced, the member states of the UN competed for projects supporting the ‘The Oil for Food Programme’.

ESBI (Electricity Supply Board International) of Dublin, were asked to provide an International Co-ordinator for the Reconstruction of the Electrical Sector of Iraq and the autonomous area of Kurdistan in North Iraq. The Electricity System of Iraq was in a shambles after the devastating Allied bombing campaign and the long series of damaging conflicts that had engulfed the region. The position was offered to me in October 1997 and I accepted. A neighbour had misused the family education fund monies I had entrusted to him to invest on my behalf and I had to replace them urgently. Saddam or no Saddam I was on for Iraq. As all commercial flights to Baghdad were prohibited I had to fly to Amman in Jordan first and go to Baghdad from there by road.