When access to the contents of an archive is closed to the public and scholars for security concerns, the collection is labeled as being “dark.” The Kanan Makiya Papers housed at the Hoover Institution is one such archive. The collection was closed in October 2017 after Wisam Alshaibi uncovered numerous documents issued by the United States Department of Defense outlining its efforts to use millions of pages of Iraqi Ba’th Party records to sell the war in Iraq to scholars and the international public. The Kanan Makiya Papers also contains records related to the formation of the Iraqi opposition movement in exile, its close ties with the American CIA and Department of Defense, and its involvement in building the case for regime-change in Iraq. In the talk, Alshaibi describes how he found the collection, how its contents radically change our understanding of the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, and how he is now facing legal liability for his research.
Mon 27 Jan 2020
