Culture in Military Operations: A Case Study--Operation Provide Comfort

Abstract

Operation Provide Comfort was a humanitarian mission that took place in 1991 in northern Iraq following the end of the Gulf War. Important cultural issues, most of which were unforeseen, greatly impacted the execution of the mission. The Kurdish region of Iraq was a generally unknown operational environment to Coalition forces. This article breaks the situation there down into physical environment, economy, social structures, political structures, and belief systems. This discussion is followed by a description of the humanitarian situation, the assigned Coalition mission, and execution of the mission, focusing primarily on a U.S. Marine Corps perspective. Finally, the article illustrates the cultural impacts affecting the mission and concludes by outlining the cultural lessons learned.