1991 Uprising in Karbala

The Shiite Uprising in Karbala was one of many major points of unrest in Iraq following the Gulf War. The uprising started after demoralized troops throughout Iraq began to rebel against Saddam Hussein. From March 5 to March 19, 1991, the city became chaotic battlefield between the insurgents and Iraqi Republican Guard. After the failure of the uprising, citiziens were killed in large numbers. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5329336.stm Fervour tinged with fear at Karbala] , BBC News, 8 September 2006] Parts of the city were nearly leveled.

Prelude

In the years leading up to the Gulf War, the holy city of Karbala boasted over 150,000 inhabitants. Tourists from Africa all the way to Pakistan flocked to the city as pilgrims to the holy Imam Husayn Shrine. In the months of the Gulf War, the city was carefully avoided by the Coalition bombing campaign due to the significance of the city’s mosques. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CE1D91230F930A2575BC0A962958260 Karbala Journal; Who Hit the Mosques? Not Us, Baghdad Says] , "The New York Times", August 13, 1994] The city suffered little damage throughout the war in general.

In the days leading up to the uprising, it was believed by some that agents from Iran moved in amongst the population for the future channeling of Islamic revolution. Finally, on March 1, the uprising began in the southern city of Basra. With this, the tides of revolt spread throughout Iraq, from the southern marshes to the Kurdish mountains.

Uprising

March 5

Some of the opposition groups had already distributed pamphlets throughout the local population, feeding anti-Saddam sentiment to the people. It was also reported that a number of these opposition groups consisted of former regular Iraqi Army soldiers who served in Kuwait during Gulf War. Earlier that day, soldiers returning from the front arrived in Karbala.

The revolt began at 2:30 PM when youths began riding through the streets with weapons, attacking government buildings and loyalist soldiers. This action provoked the population to come out of their homes with light arms and white weapons to join in the attack. Such weapons became supplemented with heavier weapons captured from the Baathist forces.

The Holy Endowments administration building was the first to be sacked, followed by several others. The rebels also stormed the al-Husseini hospital and took over their wards. Many of the holy Shia shrines immediately became the main headquarters for the insurgency, the main two being the Shrines of Husayn ibn Ali and Al-Abbas ibn Ali.

Soldiers, officers, Baath Party officials, top security agents, including the chief of police, and the deputy governor were killed in brutal ways since they did not retreat in time. Many of their bodies were left lying in their streets and often burned. On the loudspeakers from the Shia Shrines, insurgents called for prisoners to be brought to the Shrine of Abbas for execution.

March 6 through 11

By morning, the city was under complete rebel control. However, Saddam Hussein immediately began his suppression of the uprising by shelling the city and attacking rebel holdouts with helicopter gunships. The Republican Guard encountered resistance as soon as they entered the city. As a result of their sentiment towards the Shiites, it was said that the tanks bore placards saying, “No More Shia After Today.” Throughout the counter attack, voices could be heard on loudspeakers from the shrines, directing orders for the insurgency to attack the Republican Guard.

The main targets included the main Shia Shrines and the al-Husseini hospital. A henchman of Saddam, Kamal Hussein Majid, who led the assault, stood on a tank outside the tomb of Hussein and shouted: "Your name is Hussein and so is mine. Let us see who is stronger now." He then gave the order to open fire on the shrine.

At the al-Husseini hospital, doctors treated the wounded while people continually rushed in to donate blood and medicine, despite the concentrated shelling from the loyalist forces on the city outskirts. The rebels put up a stiff resistance in defending the hospital. Once it fell, the army rounded up doctors, nurses, and took them away for execution. Patients were thrown out of windows and reports surfaced of bulldozers burying bodies on the hospital grounds.

In the closing days of the uprising, the Shrines of Abbas and Hussein were heavily damaged by artillery and rocket fire from helicopters. Many rebels and civilian sympathizers barricaded themselves into the buildings. Video recordings show the people dancing in euphoria and calling for the aid of Iran, which never came. Once the loyalist forces surrounded the shrine, they moved in, blew down the doors with tanks, and killed a majority of those inside with automatic weapons fire.

Once in control of the city, the army encircled each district looking for young men. At first they shot whomever they saw. After a day or so, they arrested every male over the age of 15. Shia clerics found walking on the streets were rounded up and never seen again. Dead bodies were mined and they were not allowed to be removed from the streets. Helicopter gunships on the outskirts reportedly strafed civilians fleeing the city as well.

March 19

Soldiers took vengeance on both rebels and civilians who had not fled. Moving from district to district, they rounded up young men suspected of being rebels, transported them to stadiums where some were executed. Others were reportedly sent to a large detention facility outside Baghdad. Such marks indicated that the uprising was officially suppressed.

Aftermath

Reports indicated that no neighborhood was left intact after the uprising. In the vicinity of the Shrines of Husayn and Abbas, most of the buildings surrounding the Shrines were completely reduced to rubble. The Shrines themselves were scarred from bullet marks and tank fire. They were, however, quickly restored by the government.

In December 2005, workers maintaining water pipes 500 meters from the Imam Hussein Shrine unearthed a mass grave containing dozens of bodies, apparently those of Shia rebels killed after the uprising. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4561872.stm Mass grave unearthed in Iraq city] , BBC News, 27 December 2005]

ee also

*Battle of Karbala

References

External links

* [http://www.hrw.org/reports/1992/Iraq926.htm The 1991 Uprising in Iraq And Its Aftermath]
* [http://www.baghdadtreasure.blogspot.com/2006/03/uprising-anniversary.html Uprising Anniversary]
* (Video) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxYiLhs0Pg0 "Scenes from the Iraqi Uprising of 1991 in Holy Karbala"]
* (Video) [http://youtube.com/watch?v=rRKxRt3yz4E "Karbala: City of Martyrs - Iraq"]