1983 Kuwait bombings

Infobox terrorist attack
title=1983 Kuwait bombings


location=Kuwait City, Kuwait
target=Embassies, infrastructure
date=12 December, 1983
time=
timezone=
type=Suicide bombing
fatalities= Six, 1 suicide bomber
injuries=Eighty
perps=Dawa Party "(alleged)"cite web
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071700912.html
title=What Is Hezbollah?
last=Morley
first=Jefferson
date=July 17, 2006
publisher=washingtonpost.com] |The 1983 Kuwait bombings were attacks on six key foreign and Kuwaiti installations on December 12, 1983, two months after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. The 90-minute coordinated attack of two embassies, the country's main airport and petro-chemical plant, was more notable for the damage it was intended to cause than what was actually destroyed. What might have been "the worst terrorist episode of the twentieth century in the Middle East," succeeding in killing only six people because of the bombs' faulty rigging. [Wright, Robin, "Sacred Rage", Simon and Schuster, 2001, p.112]

Overshadowing the destruction or attempted destruction of bombings, as well as the subsequent arrests, trial and convictions of the perpetrators, was a series of kidnappings, hijackings and killings staged over the next several years to pressure Kuwait to release those convicted of the bombings.

The perpetrators of the bombing are thought to have been Radical Shia Islamist members of the Iraqi Islamic Dawa Party working with the support and assistance of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The motivation of the bombing is thought have been punishment of Kuwait, America and France for their military and financial assistance to Iraq in its war against Iran. [Ranstorp, "Hizb'allah in Lebanon" (1997), p.117]

The bombings

On December 12 1983, a truck laden with 45 large cylinders of gas connected to plastic explosives broke through the front gates of the American Embassy in Kuwait City and rammed into the embassy's three-story administrative annex, demolishing half the structure. The shock blew out windows and doors in distant homes and shops and did an estimated $400,000 worth of damage to the high-rise Hilton Hotel across the street.

Only five people were killed (Two Palestinians, two Kuwaitis, and a Syrian [Associated Press article, January 30, 1984] ) in large part because the driver did not hit the more heavily populated chancellery building, and more importantly because only a quarter of the explosives ignited. "If everything had gone off, this place would have been a parking lot, one "prominent American diplomat" told journalist Robin Wright. [Wright, Robin, "Sacred Rage", Simon and Schuster, 2001, p.112]

Five other explosives were attempted within an hour. An hour later, a car parked outside the French Embassy blew up, leaving a massive 30 foot hole in the embassy security wall. None were killed and only five people were wounded.

The target intended to get the most powerful explosion was Kuwait's main oil refinery and water desalinization plant, the Shuaiba Petro-chemical plant. A truck with 200 gas cylinders exploded 150 metres from the No.2 refinery and only a few meters from a highly flammable heap of sulfa-based chemicals. Had that bombing been successful it would have crippled its oil production of one of the world's major oil exporters and shut down most of the water supply of the desert nation. [Wright, "Sacred Rage", (2001), p.113] Other car bombs exploded at the control tower at the Kuwait International Airport, the Electricity Control Center and the living quarters for American employees of the Raytheon Corporation, which was installing a missile system in Kuwait. An Egyptian technician was killed in the control tower bombing [ [http://www.tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=3746 Incident profile] ] , but none of the other bombings resulted in fatalities.

The bombing of the American embassy was an early instance of suicide bombing in the Middle East, along with the Hezbollah's bombings of the American Embassy and Marine barracks in Lebanon earlier that year. [ [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/cron.html Chronology of terrorism] against Americans, 1979-1988]

Responsibility

Islamic Jihad Organization and Islamic Dawa Party were two Shia Islamist entities reported at the time to be involved in the bombing.The Lebanese Dawa party is thought to have been absorbed into the "umbrella"-like Hezbollah movement in the early 1980, (Wright, "Sacred Rage", (2001), p.95) and Islamic Jihad is thought to have been a "nom de guerre" of Hezbollah. (Ranstorp, "Hizb'allah" (1997), p.63)] Shortly after the blasts, Islamic Jihad called Kuwaiti authorities to take responsibility for the blast. This claim and was taken seriously after the callers boast that there was a "seventh bomb" was verified by the discovery of a car bomb in front of the Immigration Bureau.

More important than Islamic Jihad was Islamic Dawa. It was connected to the bombing when the remains of a human thumb were found and its thumbprint identified as that of Raad Murtin Ajeel, a 25-year-old Iraqi Shia member of Dawa. Ultimately 21 other defendants were put on trial (17 captured in a nationwide manhunt and four tried in absentia). After a six-week trial, six were sentenced to death (three of those were in absentia), seven to life imprisonment, seven to terms between five and fifteen years. [Wright, Robin, "Sacred Rage", Simon and Schuster, 2001, p.125] (One of those convicted was Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, currently member of Iraq's parliament and member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ruling coalition, and accused of acting as an Iranian agent in Iraq. [ [http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/05/iraq.lawmaker/index.html U.S. military: Iraqi lawmaker is U.S. Embassy bomber ] ] )

Motivation

At least some analysts believe the bombings were the work of Iran in cooperation with radical Shia allies from Iraq and Lebanon. [Ranstorp, "Hizb’allah in Lebanon" (1997), p.91, 117] Kuwait had given considerable support to Iraq in the 1980-1988 Iran–Iraq War. [Shireen T. Hunter, "Iran and the World: Continuity in a Revolutionary Decade", (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1990), p.117] Between 1983-4 Kuwait provided $7 billion in financial assistance and was second to Saudi Arabia in aiding Iraq, [ Bahman Baktiari, "Revolutionary Iran's Persian Gulf Policy: the Quest for Regional Supremacy", in "Iran and the Arab World", Hooshang Amirahmadi and Nader Entessar, Macmillan, (1993), p.77] Massive destruction and loss of life in Kuwait would also have provided an example to the other oil-rich, population-poor, Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf who were also helping Iraq against its larger, non-Arab, anti-monarchist revolutionary Islamic neighbor. In 1985, Persian Gulf states altogether provided Iraq with financial contributions in the range of US$40-50 billion, ["Iran and Iraq: the Next Five Years" (The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), 1987), p.20.]

Americans and the French are thought to have been targets in Kuwait because of their assistance to Iraq and lack of help to Iran. America had halted all shipments of arms to Iran, and extended $2 billion in trade credit to Iraq in "Operation Staunch" in 1983, [Anthony H. Cordesman, "The Iran–Iraq War and Western Security, 1984-1987: Strategic Implications and Policy Options", Janes Publishing Company, 1987) p.79]

Response

The blasts were said to have taken the Kuwaiti government "completely by surprise" and left them and the other small Gulf monarchies "dumbfounded, and terrified," "shaken" to their "core" that such a well-organized terrorist operation could have taken place under their noses. [Wright, Robin, "Sacred Rage", Simon and Schuster, 2001, p.113] [Jaber, Hala. "Hezbollah : born with a vengeance", New York : Columbia University Press, c1997, p.127-129] The hitherto relaxed nation was transformed into a "police state" with roundups of foreign workers, numerous roadblocks, identity checks, and guardsmen under orders to "shoot whoever refused to stop or be searched." [Monday Morning Magazine December 19, 1983]

Pressure on Kuwait to free the bombers

Of the "Kuwait 17", 12 were Iraqis in al-Dawa [ [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r101:S25JY0-B485: Bombs, Hostages: A Family Link] , Washington Post, July 24, 1990.] , and three were Lebanese. One of these was Mustafa Youssef Badreddin, Badreddin was convicted to die, but he was also a cousin and brother-in-law of one of Hezbollah's senior officers, Imad Mugniyah. [ [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/cron.html Bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait] ] "Analysts say, ... there is little doubt Mugniyeh and Badreddin helped plan December 1983 bombings in Kuwait against the U.S. and French embassies there ...." [ [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r101:S25JY0-B485: Bombs, Hostages: A Family Link] , Washington Post, July 24, 1990.] [Another source, Ranstorp, Magnus, "Hizb'allah in Lebanon", 1997, p.91, lists another name, Elias Fouad Saab, as that of the brother-in-law and cousin to Imad Mughniya]

Both the organization of Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran - which was far larger and stronger than its neighbor Kuwait, [37 million population v. 1.3 million, populations from 1981 "World Almanac"] and the location of Dawa's headquarters - worked to free their fellow Shia revolutionaries in Kuwait.

In Lebanon, Westerns hostages such as American Frank Regier and Frenchman Christian Joubert, were held by Shia radicals demanding the release of the al-Dawa terrorists as the price of the hostages’ release. On March 27 1984 following the conviction of the al-Da'wa defendants, hostage-takers threatened to kill their hostages if the Kuwaiti government carried through with the planned execution of the al-Dawa prisoners. [Ranstorp, "Hizb'allah in Lebanon", (1997), p.92] A month later American Benjamin Weir was kidnapped by actors demanding the same. Anglican hostage negotiator Terry Waite appealed to the Emir of Kuwait and tried to get a visa to come to Kuwait. His failure to make progress in freeing the convicted terrorists is thought to be the reason he himself was kidnapped and spent some 5 years as a hostage. [Ranstorp, "Hizb'allah in Lebanon", (1997), p.99] Although those sentenced to death were to be hanged within 30 days, the Emir of Kuwait did not sign their death sentence. ["Hezbollah : Born with a vengeance" by Hala Jaber, p.127-129] The executions were delayed for years, [Wright, Robin, "Sacred Rage", Simon and Schuster, 2001, p.133] until the men were released.

Iran

Chief Kuwaiti government spokesman Abdel Aziz Hussein called the bombings "the first concentrated Iranian operation to export the revolution and destabilize the Gulf after Iran failed to infiltrate the Iraqi [war] front." ["New York Times," December 12, 1983] Kuwait was threatened with further attacks if the defendants were not released, [Reuters, February 9, 1984] with Tehran Radio regularly broadcast warnings from Dawa that Kuwait would face "serious consequences" if the "heroes" standing trial were harmed. [Wright, Robin, "Sacred Rage", Simon and Schuster, 2001, p.125]

Hezbollah

Over the next several years Hezbollah perpetrated a string of kidnappings and bombings with the goal of forcing the Kuwaiti government to free the al-Dawa prisoners. Hostage Terry Anderson was told that he and the other hostages kidnapped in Beirut had been abducted "to gain the freedom of their seventeen comrades in Kuwait." ["Hezbollah : Born with a vengeance" by Hala Jaber, p.127-129]

The Kuwait 17 then played a role in the Iran-Contra scandal: the principals of Iran-Contra offered to sway Kuwait to release the Kuwait 17 as one of several incentives to free American hostages in Lebanon. However, when U.S. President Ronald Reagan learned of this offer, he allegedly responded "like he had been kicked in the belly." [ [http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst203/documents/irancontra.html Excerpts from the Walsh Report] on the Iran-Contra affair.]

Kuwait Airways Flight 221

On December 3, 1984, a Kuwait Airways flight from Kuwait City to Karachi Pakistan was hijacked by four Lebanese Shi'a hijackers divert a and diverted to Tehran. The hijackers demand was the release of the Kuwait 17, which was not met. During the course of the standoff women, children and Muslims were released and two American officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, Charles Hegna and William Stanford, were shot dead and dumped on the tarmac. The few dozen passengers left on board, particularly Americans were threatened and tortured. "Every five minutes there was a frightening incident. There was no letup at all," British flight engineer Neil Beeston told the BBC. [BBC World Service Dec. 24, 1984] Paradoxically the hijackers released a statement claiming "We do not have any enmity toward anyone and we do not intend to deny the freedom of anyone or to frighten anyone..." On the sixth day of the drama, Iranian security forces stormed the plane and released the remaining hostages.

Iranian speacial forces stomed hijackers in Tehran. Authorities saying they would be brought to trial, but the hijackers were released and allowed to leave the country. Some passengers and officials suggested complicity by Iran in the hijacking. One Kuwaiti and two Pakistani passengers claimed that the hijackers received additional weapons and equipment once the plane had landed, including handcuffs and nylon ropes used to tie passengers to their seats. ["New York Times", December 23, 1984] One American official wondered if the surrender was not preplanned: "You do not invite cleaners aboard an airplane after you have planted explosives, promised to blow up the plane, and read your last will and testament." ["Time," Dec. 24, 1984]

The U.S. State Department announced a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrests of those involved in the hijacking, but made no military response. Later press reports linked Hezbollah's Imad Mughniyah to the hijackings. [ [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/etc/cron.html Hijacking of Kuwait Airways Flight 221] ]

Attempt on the life of the emir

By May 1985, Islamic Jihad had accumulated six hostages in Lebanon - four Americans and two French - and on May 16 it released photos of them promising a "horrible disaster" if the jailed terrorists in Kuwait were not released. [UPI, May 16, 1985] On May 25 a suicide car bomber attacked the motorcade of Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh Jaber, killing two bodyguards and a passerby. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility and again demanded the terrorists release. ["New York Times" May 26, 1985]

TWA Flight 847

On June 14, 1985, TWA Flight 847 was hijacked en route from Athens to Rome. One of the demands of the hijackers, was the release of the 17 Shia prisoners held in Kuwait.

Kuwait Airways Flight 422

On April 5, 1988, Kuwait Airways Flight 422 was hijacked from Bangkok to Kuwait with 111 passengers and crew aboard. Three members of the Kuwaiti Royal Family. Six or seven Lebanon men, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/5/newsid_2522000/2522651.stm Hijackers free 25 hostages] ] (including Hassan Izzeldine, a veteran of the TWA 847 hijacking [Ranstorp, "Hizb'allah in Lebanon," (1997), p.95] ) armed with guns and hand grenades forced the pilot to land in Mashhad, Iran and demanded the release of 17 Shiite Muslims guerrillas held in Kuwait. Lasting 16 days and traveling 3,200-miles from Mashhad in northeastern Iran to Larnaca, Cyprus, and finally to Algiers, it is the longest skyjacking to date. Two passengers, Abdullah Khalidi, 25, and Khalid Ayoub Bandar, 20, both Kuwaitis, were shot to death by the hijackers and dumped on the tarmac in Cyprus. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967244,00.html Terrorism Nightmare on Flight 422] ] Kuwait did not release the 17 prisoners, and the hijackers were allowed to leave Algiers.

Aftermath

Eventually the Kuwait 17 gained freedom, reportedly during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait when 1,300 prisoners escape from Kuwait's Saidia central prison. The 15 al-Da'wa prisoners where taken into custody and released to Iran" by Iraqi officials. [Ranstorp, Hizb'allah, (1997), p.105]

Al-Dawa has insisted that the attacks in Kuwait were perpetrated by agents who had been "hijacked" by Iran. [ [http://www.meib.org/articles/0306_iraqd.htm Dossier: Al-Daawa (June 2003) ] ] In February 2007, journalists reported that Jamal Jaafar Muhammad, who was elected to the Iraqi parliament in 2005 as part of the SCIRI/Badr faction of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), was also sentenced to death in Kuwait for planning the al-Dawa bombings. [ [http://www.nola.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-36/1170775511148050.xml&storylist=international U.S. probes embassy's bombing in Kuwait] ]

ee also

*Hezbollah
*Lebanon Hostage Crisis
*List of terrorist organisations

Notes

Bibliography

*Jaber, Hala. "Hezbollah : born with a vengeance", New York : Columbia University Press, c1997
*Ranstorp, Magnus, "Hizb'allah in Lebanon : The Politics of the Western Hostage Crisis", New York, St. Martins Press, 1997
*Wright, Robin, "Sacred Rage : the wrath of militant Isam", Simon and Schuster, 2001