48                           HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS IN NORTHERN IRAQ, 1991:


acceptable  level  of transportation  support, but  eventually compounded
maintenance  problems  which resulted   in degradation of overland hauling
capacity. The MSSG's trucks accumulated 27,000 miles in the first 30 days
(during MSSG-24's previous Mediterranean Cruise it drove only about 25,000
miles in six months).SS
    The mobile electric power shortage was overcome through interservice
cooperation. Bulk fuel handling eventually became a multi-service, multi-national
effort, although llMM-264 and MSSG-24 carried the whole load for the first
three weeks. Potable water was provided by Reverse Osmosis Water Purification
Units (ROWPUs), existing wells, and commercial and military water trucks.
Again, MSSG-24 carried the entire load for JTF-B until mid-May.59
    The Marines of MSSG-24 worked hard and accomplished much. They
carried most of the load for Joint Task Force Bravo in northern Iraq until
additional support arrived, operated a humanitarian service support base at Silopi
and a combat service support detachment at Zakho, set up and ran refugee Camp
One, and unloaded ships at the docks of Iskenderun. It is safe to say their efforts
were critical to the success of Marine forces during Operation Provide Comfort.

                   Planning Operation Encourage Hope
                                Kurdistan

    Kurdistan was a unique place. It had land but no territory; it once had a king
but was never a kingdom; it had a flag but was not a sovereign state; many
people lived there, but Kurdistan had no "population. ` A person could search
every modern map of the area and never find a country called Kurdistan, because
this kingdom existed only in the dreams of the Kurdish people.
    For centuries, the Kurds constantly searched for, but never truly found,
political independence. Twice in the 20th century this age-old dream almost
became reality. An independent homeland was promised after World War I, but
this dream ended when the provisions of the stillborn Treaty of Sevres were
renounced by Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal. After World War II, the Kurdish
state of Mahabad was formed in Iran, but folded after the Soviet Union withdrew
its support in 1946.
    The area traditionally called Kurdistan was located in the rugged mountains,
pleasant valleys, and fertile plains at the convergence of the Taurus and Zagros
Mountains. It occupied parts of four modern countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, and
Turkey. Iraqi Kurdistan was a triangular area north of the Diyala River, east of
the Tigris River, and south of Iraq's borders with Turkey and Iran. Tbis area
contained some of Iraq's richest farmland and sat atop its most productive
oilfields. Unfortunately for the Kurds, these economic factors meant the Iraqi
government would never surrender its proprietorship of this valuable region.
    In 1970, an official Iraqi Kurdish Autonomous Zone (KAZ) was created by
an agreement known as the March Manifesto. Purposely kept small, this zone
included only parts of three provinces: Dohuk, Erbil, and Sulaymaniyah. This
was done despite the fact that traditional Kurdistan also included Nineveh,