198                                   U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 19901991

May, perhaps celebrating their new found freedom, 1,500 Kurds demonstrated
in Zakbu calling for allies to move towards the city of Dahuk.
   Soon after, JTF-B ordered the 24th MEU(SOC), reinforced by the 3d Bat-
talion, 325th Regiment Airborne Combat Team, to move south and establish
checkpoints to the west and east of the city at the edge of the allied security
zone (see 1,BLT 2/8 Moves South" insert).       Ongoing negotiations between the
Iraqis and the Military Coordination Committee resulted in an agreement that
would allow humanitarian and logistical forces to enter the city along with
United Nations (U.N.) forces and nongoverrirnent organizations. Combat forces
were to advance no further beyond their present positions.      In return, Iraq
agreed to withdraw all armed forces and secret police from Dahuk and take up
new positions 15 kilometers to the south of the city.     On 20 May, a small
convoy of coalition vehicles entered Dahuk and established a forward command
post in an empty hotel in the heart of the city. The security zone now extended
160 kilometers east to west and 60 kilometers north to south below the
Turkish-Iraqi border.
   Although there was considerable doubt as to whether this would be enough
to attract refugees from the camps, the presence of an airborne combat team to
the east of Dahuk and BLT 2/8 to the west, the patrols of the 18th Military
Police Brigade throughout JTF-B's main supply routes, the increasing capabilities
of Italian and Spanish forces around Zalthu, and the presence of British, Dutch,
and French forces nearby, all seemed to convince Kurdish leaders that the time
was right to repopulate the security zone.  Thousands of Kurds began leaving
their temporary shelters heading for Dahuk.
   All available transportation was used during this movement.  Many refugees
walked, but once on the roads and footpaths, they helped one another using cars,
mule~driven carts, buses,  tractors,  motorcycles--whatever could be found.
Coalition forces sent teams of mechanics and fuel trucks into the mountains to
provide assistance to those attempting to return home. Intermediary way stations
were set up by civil affairs units under the command of Col John Easton,
USMCR, JTF-B's chief of staff, to provide food, water, and medical assistance
at various points along the Journey.
   By 25 May, the movement of refugees reached its peak. 55,200 refugees
sought temporary refuge in what had become three camps in the valley east of
Zakhu.  The activity was feverish, but incredibly well controlled. People who
had never dreamed of an operation of this magnitude were thrust together to
make critical decisions. They overcame language, cultural, and ethnic barriers.
Nongovernmental workers from all parts of the world joined with military forces
to make this effort successful.  Even U.N. representatives joined in the race
against time to get the Kurdish people out of the mountains.    By 2 June, the
U.N. had taken over the administration of both refugee camps from coalition
forces, which by this time numbered over 13,000 personnel.
   At the 90-day mark, it was clear that coalition objectives were achieved.
Kurdish refugees were out of the mountains and either back in their villages of
origin, on their way there, or in camps built by coalition forces.      In the
Mediterranean, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), which had flown air