Title: A concurrent resolution commemorating the 30th anniversary of Operation Provide Comfort.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This concurrent resolution commemorates the 30th anniversary of Operation Provide Comfort (the humanitarian operation to defend and deliver aid to Kurdish refugees fleeing Iraqi Kurdistan due to attacks by the regime of Saddam Hussein). It also reaffirms the strong partnership between the United States and the Iraqi Kurds.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 16 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. CON. RES. 16

    Commemorating the 30th anniversary of Operation Provide Comfort.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 25, 2021

  Mr. Van Hollen (for himself and Mr. Rubio) submitted the following 
 concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
    Commemorating the 30th anniversary of Operation Provide Comfort.

Whereas, after the uprising against Saddam Hussein in March 1991, Hussein turned 
        tanks and helicopter gunships on the defenseless citizens of Iraqi 
        Kurdistan;
Whereas, overwhelmed by the superior firepower of the Hussein regime, and having 
        already experienced the genocidal death of approximately 200,000 Iraqi 
        Kurds, the wanton destruction of approximately 4,500 Iraqi Kurdish 
        villages, and deadly chemical bombardment, hundreds of thousands of 
        Iraqi Kurdish men, women, and children fled to the northern and eastern 
        borders of Iraq, fearing that the regime would use poison gas against 
        them, as during the Anfal campaign and in Halabja only 3 years before;
Whereas, at one point in the early days of the 1991 refugee crisis, the daily 
        death toll of fleeing Iraqi Kurds exceeded 1,000, with victims having no 
        time to gather any possessions or winter protective gear and thus 
        succumbing to exposure, malnutrition, and disease;
Whereas the United States, in response to the unfolding human catastrophe, led 
        what became the largest humanitarian operation of its kind ever, 
        Operation Provide Comfort, delivering humanitarian relief and enforcing 
        a no-fly zone;
Whereas Operation Provide Comfort saved the lives of countless thousands of 
        Iraqi Kurds from near certain death on the freezing and rugged border 
        mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan;
Whereas, to this day, Iraqi Kurds credit United States-led Operation Provide 
        Comfort, particularly the no-fly zone that protected the Iraqi Kurdish 
        people until 2003, for helping support security and stability in Iraqi 
        Kurdistan;
Whereas Iraqi Kurdistan has long served as a safe haven for people fleeing 
        conflict and religious and political persecution; and
Whereas the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Kurdish Peshmerga remain 
        steadfast partners of the United States in the fight against extremism 
        and terrorism: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That Congress--
            (1) commemorates the 30th anniversary of Operation Provide 
        Comfort;
            (2) recognizes and honors the heroic soldiers, diplomats, 
        political leaders, and coalition partners of the United States 
        who implemented Operation Provide Comfort;
            (3) recognizes and honors the bravery of the nearly 
        2,000,000 Iraqi Kurdish women, children, and men who struggled 
        to survive starvation and exposure, welcomed the aid that came, 
        and embraced the opportunity for a new life;
            (4) encourages Iraqi Kurdish leaders to continue to uphold 
        the values of democracy, human rights, and freedom that have 
        made Iraqi Kurdistan an oasis in a troubled region; and
            (5) reaffirms--
                    (A) the strong partnership between the United 
                States and the Iraqi Kurds, which exists in 
                complementarity with the United States strong 
                partnership with the Government of Iraq; and
                    (B) the enduring respect and support of Congress 
                for Iraqi Kurdish friends of the United States who 
                courageously stand with the United States in shared 
                opposition to extremism and terrorism.
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