MEMORANDUM OF TRANSMITTAL

To: Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman and Senator Alan K. Simpson, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs.

From: Jerry Tinker, Staff Director; Michael Myers, Counsel; and Nancy Soderberg, Foreign Policy Adviser to Senator Kennedy. Date: May 20, 1991.

The following report, "The Aftermath of War: The Persian Gulf Refugee Crisis," reflects the findings of your delegation's visit to Iraq, over a 2-week period from April 27 to May 9, and is based upon the subcommittee's hearing of April 15 and subsequent meetings and briefings with officials of the Departments of State, Defense, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and a broad range of American and international voluntary agencies involved in the Persian Gulf relief effort.

We are extremely grateful to all of these agencies for their support and for the information they provided. We also greatly admire their extraordinary humanitarian work which is so evident in the field, and which has saved countless lives.

As the following report documents, an unusually successful international humanitarian relief operation was launched last month in response to the refugee crisis that emerged in the wake of the war in the Persian Gulf, particularly among the Kurdish refugees from northern Iraq.

Although there is much credit for the world's humanitarian response to the plight of the Kurds and other repressed ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq, there remains much to be done. As developments over the past month in Iraq have made painfully clear, we are far from a conclusion to our efforts there, although considerable diplomatic progress has been achieved by the United Nations and our alliance partners. But as this report documents, many issues remain to be resolved.

The best of American skills and leadership will be required in the days ahead.

(III)