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President William Jefferson Clinton
Report to the U.S. Congress
Washington, DC, January 9, 2001
Report on Plans for Transfer of Humanitarian Assistance
For the Relief of the Iraqi People, and for
Radio and Television Broadcasting by the Iraqi National CongressThis report is submitted pursuant to section S75 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Relating Programs Appropriation Act of FY 2001 (P.L. 106-429). It sets-forth plans for the transfer of humanitarian assistance for the relief of the Iraqi people to, and for radio and television broadcasting by, the Iraqi National Congress (INC). In addition, it identifies certain key issues that must be resolved by the INC, and by the United States Government, in relation to implementation of those plans.
Transfer of Humanitarian Assistance for the Relief of the Iraqi People
Using a portion of the first $4 million made available to the INC under the September 29, 2000 Cooperative Agreement with the Department of State, the INC has begun planning to commence humanitarian relief operations inside Iraq, subject to further consultation with the incoming Administration and the Congress. Beyond drafting preliminary plans, the INC has begun to identify the experienced professional services to be acquired either through contract or direct hire, which the INC will need to finalize design of such programs and to implement them.From our ongoing consultation with the INC, we understand that the following are their preliminary planning concepts for humanitarian relief operations:
-- The primary purpose is to assist those Iraqis who have been displaced from their homes or who are not receiving adequate assistance from the UN and other assistance organizations.
-- The target groups are defined as Iraqis living in areas controlled by the regime (especially Marsh Arabs and at-her people living in southern Iraq and the Iran-Iraq border areas) and internally displaced persons living in Iraqi Kurdistan.
-- INC intends to avoid duplicating or overlapping efforts by international non-governmental organizations, the UN program in northern Iraq, and the regional administration in-northern Iraq.
-- The INC's relief operations will cooperate integrally with any willing, effective, and well established official-or non-governmental relief organizations already operating in Iraq and surrounding countries.
Southern Iraq
The INC has identified provision of emergency medical care as the most urgent need that it is likely to be able to address in the southern region of Iraq in the-short term. In addition to providing such services and associated medicine, the INC proposes to assess other urgent local needs in such areas as food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, fuel, and other basic needs. The INC proposes to gain access to these areas through temporary deployments of mobile teams supported from offices in Iran. At our recommendation, the INC is exploring practical - cooperation with the AMAR Foundation, a non-political, international NGO entirely dedicated to humanitarian purposes, and which is partially supported by FY 1999 and FY 2000 U.S. economic support funds. AMAR provides relief to Marsh Arabs deprived of their homes by the regime's military forces and its deliberate destruction of their -ancient and unique natural habitat. With the INC, AMAR aims through such programs not only to provide immediate short-term humanitarian relief, but also, in the, longer term, to support restoration of civil society inside Iraq.Northern Iraq
The INC's primary target groups in northern Iraq are internally displaced persons (IDPs). These IDPs, including Arabs, Kurds, Turkomans, and Assyrianso, generally have fled or been expelled from regime-controlled areas of southern, central, and northern Iraq to the relative safety of Iraqi Kurdistan. Their primary needs are for supplementary food and clothing, primary health care, shelter, water, and sanitation. They also require education and income generating employment. The INC intends to establish humanitarian relief offices in major towns in the region, which would seek to work with any of several well-established indigenous or international NGO partners, such as Kurdistan Save the Children Foundation and the Kurdish Women's information Center.Central Iraq
Security of access by independent humanitarian-relief workers presents a particular obstacle to relieve the suffering inflicted by the regime on the population of central Iraq. Hence, the INC's preliminary conceptual focus in this region is providing material relief rather than services. Pending resolution of security issues, the INC plans to send relief supplies into the central region from support offices in neighboring countries and northern Iraq.Key Issues
Planning for Humanitarian Impact: To ensure meaningful programs in humanitarian terms, the INC must substantially advance its present planning, beginning with gathering and analyzing detailed, authoritative data on local needs. We have encouraged the INC to contract for such services under the existing Cooperative Agreement or to hire directly highly qualified, experienced professionals to conduct such planning and research. The United States Government also may consider the involvement of United States Government experts in assisting the INC in this planning. In any case, in the course of such planning, the INC should continue to stay in the closest consultation with the new U.S. Administration.Security: From ongoing consultation, it is clear that the INC recognizes that security of its personnel and the people they serve inside Iraq must be of paramount consideration for INC relief operations. Under the existing Cooperative Agreement, the Department of State has made available funding for training INC personnel in protective skills. The Department also has suggested diverse commercial sources of such training. The INC has informed us that they are continuing their research on possible service providers in the international private sector. Beyond such improvement of the INC's own abilities to protect its people and others inside Iraq, the Administration and Congress will need to consider what forms of direct protection, if any, the U.S. should provide. Finally, the INC will need to develop mechanisms to ensure that the Iraqi recipients of such assistance do not become targets of the regime by virtue of being a recipient of such assistance.
External Cooperation: INC relief operations not inside Iraq will depend upon the cooperation of neighboring states. The governments of all the states bordering Iraq have publicly asserted their concern to relieve the suffering of the Iraqi people, and it is on this basis that the INC plans to request their cooperation. However, Baghdad can be expected to exert its substantial economic, political and possibly even military or terrorist levers of pressure* on neighboring states to demonstrate its opposition to independent efforts to deliver humanitarian relief inside Iraq.
UNSC and Unilateral United States Government Economic Sanctions: The INC has assured us that its planning for relief operations inside Iraq is predicated on compliance with U.S. and international law mandating various forms of sanctions on the Baghdad regime. At a minimum, the UN sanctions regime imposes certain notification and approval requirements on exports to Iraq and under U.S. law, licensing may be required for certain transactions or categories of transactions.
Transparency, Accountability, and Financial Integrity: Using funding under its current Cooperative Agreement with the Department of State, the INC has advanced its internal accounting and management practices. It has begun its first audit, as required under the current Agreement. It also is in the process of hiring inventory officers, accountants, and logisticians. Some of these personnel have received training under the Iraq Liberation Act. The INC is emphasizing transparency, accountability, and financial integrity not only in its planning for humanitarian relief operations, but also in the full range of its ongoing and planned business operations covered under the existing Cooperative Agreement.
Broadcasting
We support the INC's emphasis on broadcasting into Iraq as one of its most important operations within its larger program to promote a transition to democracy in Iraq. One of the pillars of Saddam Hussein's power structure is absolute control of all sources of information both to and from the outside world. Breaking that stranglehold will allow the INC to encourage the forces of democratic change inside Iraq and give hope of a better future to the Iraqi people. The INC's radio and television broadcasting will be integrated with, and directly supported by, other information operations. The success of these broadcast and related information operations, taken together, will be indispensable to restoring to the Iraqi people their voice in the world.The INC media operations will have two target audiences, each requiring different program purposes and content: The Iraqi people, primarily those living under the regime's control, but also those living in free areas of northern Iraq and in exile. INC broadcasts will aim to provide this audience unbiased timely and accurate news and information in order to break their isolation and to counter Baghdad's propaganda.
The international community (excluding U.S. audiences)
The INC also aims through its communications operations to break the Saddam regime's grip on information flow in the opposite direction. That is, they will expose to external audiences the truth from and about Iraq, which Baghdad hides from world media. Theme information operations will support advocacy by the INC of the need to establish democracy, the rule of law, and civil society within Iraq under a new government. They will also support advocacy of international legal efforts to hold the Saddam Hussein regime accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.Television
The INC envisions television as its primary medium for disseminating information to the Iraqi people inside Iraq and in neighboring countries. It plans to expand broadcasting to 24 hours, by repeating 8 hours of programming three times per day. The INC estimates that to reach that level of activity it will need to build its own TV studio, lease digital and analogue satellite transponders, produce original programming, and use external programming sources. INC also plans to broadcast television programs via the Internet using streaming video technology.Using funds appropriated for fiscal year 2000 under a Cooperative Agreement with the Department of State dated September 29, 2000, the INC already has begun satellite television broadcasting. The INC has informed us that since November it has been transmitting a test signal in digital format via satellite for one hour each day. The reception zone reportedly includes Iraq and a large region including much of Europe, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia. The INC chose the digital format for its quality of signal and economy, in the expectation that digital reception inside Iraq will continue to expand rapidly, as is the case throughout the Middle East.
Radio. Radio is a second key medium for disseminating information to the Iraqi people. The INC informs us that planning for radio broadcasts is proceeding well, and that it hopes to establish a signal receivable inside Iraq early in 2001. The INC plans to expand programming to 24 hours per day by broadcasting eight hours of programming three times per day. This will require facilities to produce original program content. The INC plans to focus programming on news, current affairs, and content relating to democracy, human rights, and the crimes of the Baghdad regime. To expand the area of coverage in Iraq, the INC plans to purchase a high power transmitter inside the country. Radio programs also will be made available over the Internet.
Newspaper and other Publications. The INC plans to integrate its TV and radio broadcasting operations with its other media operations. Using funds under the September 29, 2000 Cooperative Agreement, in October the INC resumed publication of its weekly newspaper, al-Mu'tammar, now published and distributed from London. The INC plans in future to publish and distribute the paper inside Iraq, including, through miniaturized editions, inside areas now under the control of the Baghdad regime. The INC plans to expand al-Mu'tammar to 24 pages. Al-Mu'tammar is carried on the INC's website.
As it has done in the past, the INC also plans to extend and supplement its broadcast operations by publishing and distributing inside Iraq printed literature, videotapes, and CD-ROMs.
Public information office and the Internet The INC intends to establish a Public Information office at its London headquarters to support broadcast operations and to coordinate its external relations with the international media and the general public. This office will operate the INC's website, www.inc.org.uk, as a broadcast medium in itself, as well as a medium to extend the INC's radio, TV, and newspaper programming. The Public Information office functions would include drafting and distributing press releases and statements, organizing press conferences, briefing INC members, responding to media and public inquiries, and monitoring coverage of the INC. It intends to develop modern media management techniques such as rapid rebuttal, focus groups, and research units.
Challenges
The principal immediate challenge to the effectiveness of the INC's television and radio broadcasting ventures will he to develop quality programming content to sustain increased hours of broadcasting each day. We anticipate that the INC will wish to invest a substantial proportion of the remaining $4 million in FY 2000 funds to producing television and radio programming and establishing the related media activities outlined above.As broadcasting operations expand, the INC also will need to address technical challenges that they and we expect can be overcome through increased investment in equipment. They also are likely to face diplomatic hurdles, as the cooperation of other governments may become necessary to sustain further technical advances in broadcast facilities and their reach within Iraq. Possible future physical transfer into Iraq of all or parts of the INC's broadcast and publishing operations also may experience challenges similar to those noted regarding the INC's delivery of humanitarian relief inside Iraq.
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