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T e Day Baghdad Was Bombed

Jojie Samuel

16 December 1998 will forever be etched in my mind. It was an ordinary
night in Baghdad, just like any other night. T is would be the day that
changed the entire history of humanity of Iraq. It was also the day the
embassy organised a Christmas party at a restaurant in Baghdad, more than
a week before Christmas Day.

T is was my f rst year in Iraq, having arrived in Baghdad in January 1998.
I was previously posted to the High Commission of Malaysia in Ottawa,
Canada for two and a half years. Not many of cers had the desire to be
posted to Iraq then and I could understand why. However, I thought it
would be a useful and valuable experience for me to undergo a hardship post
and experience life as a diplomat in Baghdad. Anyway, what better way than
to experience “adventure” in the land where Prophet Abraham was originally
from.

Iraq was then under a near total f nancial and trade embargo imposed by the
United Nations Security Council. T e country became subject to sanctions
on 6 August 1990, four days after its invasion of neighbouring Kuwait. UN
Security Council Resolution 661, later complemented by Resolution 687 in
April 1991, imposed a series of sanctions on Iraq which include restrictions
on free trade, f nancial dealings, weapons sales, f ights and various imports.
It also include an inspection system designed to prevent Iraq from obtaining
and maintaining ballistic missiles and nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons. Most of these sanctions (often criticised for having hurt the
population at large more than the regime) were lifted in 2003, after the
toppling of Saddam Hussein.

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