Blood on the Sand: The Camp Speicher Massacre

On 20 March 2003 , when coalition forces launch the invasion of the Iraq there was a beacon of hope among the Shia population, which forms the majority population of the Iraq that there decades of suffering under Sadam Hussein led Baathist party will come to an end. Sadam Hussein and his Baathist party was guilty of large number of human rights violation and atrocities which he has unleashed upon Shia muslims and Kurds who have become more socially and economically backward under the regime.

Captain Michael Scott Speicher official U.S. Navy photo, circa 1990.from the English Wikipedia | Image Credit: United States Navy

Under operation Iraqi freedom, US expeditionary forces launched the invasion of Iraq with a strenuous goal of disarmament and bring the most prominent members of the Baathist party, including Sadam Hussein on trial, whom were guilty of using chemical weapons over people of Kurdish ethnicity at Halabja or mass kiling of shia muslims in dujail in retaliation to an failed assassination attempt over him. But as we all know what goes around comes around. He met his fate when his regime was toppled and spent his last moments at Camp Cropper prior to his execution.

When the US forces were deployed in Iraq they established various military installations or camps across the Iraq to facilitate the ground troops with logistic support and aid. One such military installation was Camp Speicher, named after Michael Scott Speicher, a naval aviator who was shot down by Iraqi air force during Gulf war. Later on when US forces initiated their withdrawal from Iraq in December of 2011 they handover the control of Camp Speicher base to Iraqi government led by Nouri al-maliki. He was the first full term PM post invasion who enjoyed great relationship with President George W.Bush. But White House and Arab states at many instances has raised concerned over his sectarian policies which has caused the alienation of Sunni Arabs.The widespread discrimination and violence against Sunni muslims post invasion in Iraq under Maliki’s government compelled many Sunni muslims to join anti Maliki or anti shia militia’s and some ended upon joining ISIL (Islamic state of Iraq and Levant) who was exploiting the political instability and sectarian tensions in Iraq and it’s neighboring country, Syria where Syrian democracy movement has gone violent under the Bashar al Assad.

On 11 June 2014 , ISIS captured the strategically important city Tikrit along with Camp Speicher base while advancing towards the capital of Iraq , Baghdad and capturing other major cities such as Mosul, capital of nineveh governorate. On 16th June, the unarmed cadets at the base with a strength of approximate 5,000 started to flee the base into the civilian outfits rather than in their uniforms but they wouldn’t escape the ISIS highly mobile armored vehicles. Some were captured at the base and other while their attempt to flee and eventually faced dire consequences at the hands of ISIS. Those who were attempting to flee were executed at point blank range. While at Camp Speicher base ISIS segregated Shia military cadets from Sunni ones; Shia military cadets were handcuffed and were taken to unknown location and was laid down in mass graves and executed through assault rifles and light machine guns. As of 2024 , it is the worst incident of terrorism in the history of Iraq and second after 9/11 in world in terms of civilian casualties.

The incident fueled the smoldering sectarian tensions across the Iraq and in order to avoid spillage of sectarian violence across the Iraq saadoum al-dulaimi , minister of defence in Al Maliki government was reported saying ” Massacare was not sectarian in nature”(Source : Sout al Iraq) and there was a huge pressure upon the Iraqi government to bring perpetrators on altar of justice .The Iraqi government paid 10 million Iraqi dinar as a compensation to the families of the missing cadets. (Source : Al Sumaria). In the early April of 2015 , when Iraqi forces were able to regain control of Tikrit, mass graves were discovered and exhumed and extensive search operations were launched across the Iraq for the missing cadets . The 10th anniversary of the massacare was marked Mohammed Shia’a al Sudani current Iraqi PM taking into account the barbarism and brutality of the crime against Shia population. In 2016 , Iraqi government executed 36 men for their part in this heinous massacre and 25 person out of 27 who were on death row were acquitted due to lack of evidence in 2017. But still eyes of many families awaits for their children’s who went missing and never returned at the time of Massacare.

Source :

1) “Massacre Claim Shakes Iraq” :The New York Times

2) “New mass graves found in Tikrit” : CNN

3)”Iraq hangs 36 men for Camp Speicher massacre”: BBC News

4)”3 mass graves discovered in central Tikrit”: Iraqi News

5)”Iraq to hang 27 for IS Camp Speicher massacre”: BBC News

6)”Joint Statement from the Leaders of the United States and the Republic of Iraq “: White house