Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988

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The Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988 was a United States Senate bill to punish Iraq for claimed chemical weapons attacks on the Iraqi Kurds in late August to early September 1988, although lacking corroboration. [1] It passed in the Senate but failed to pass in the House of Representatives.

Support and defeat

Peter W. Galbraith, then a staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations drafted the bill. Senators Claiborne Pell, Jesse Helms, Christopher S. Bond, Wendell H. Ford, Al Gore, Carl Levin, Richard G. Lugar and William Proxmire sponsored it. [2]

The bill aimed to punish Iraq by embargoing all dual-use technological exports, stopping all Export-Import bank credits, banning US imports of Iraqi oil, and mandating US opposition to any loans by the International Monetary Fund or any other multilateral financial institution.

This legislation will help demonstrate to the Iraqi regime just how seriously our country views its campaign against the Kurds. In addition, it will help assure that US tax dollars do not subsidize the Iraqis.

Jesse Helms

The bill passed in the Senate but was defeated in the House of Representatives. U.S. Representative Bill Frenzel publicly opposed it, arguing it was doing harm to the United States rather than to perpetrators of alleged genocide. [3]

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References

  1. Ottaway, David B. (15 September 1988). "A SHARP DIVERGENCE OVER SANCTIONS FOR IRAQ". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  2. "S.2763 - Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988" . Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  3. Urosevich, Kerrie (2006). "Kurdistan". In Reveron, Derek S.; Murer, Jeffrey Stevenson (eds.). Flashpoints in the war on terrorism. New York, NY: Routledge. pp.  48–49. ISBN   0-415-95490-8.