It was a military bunker. IIRC, Saddam had a bunch of dissidents herded in there at gunpoint because he was aware it was a legitimate military target. (This was discovered later AND reported on) After it was hit, Saddam had Western reporters waiting and ready for a field trip to the "atrocity" and reaped the rewards of a propaganda gold mine.
I found a few more on this incident.
---Bunker Was Legitimate Target
Allied Leaders Claim Bombed Bunker Was Legitimate Military Target
HUNDREDS OF IRAQIS KILLED IN SHELTER
Hundreds of women and children were killed or wounded when American bombers blasted a packed air raid shelter in Baghdad yesterday. The heavy civilian toll, the greatest in a single incident in the war, stunned the world and led to renewed questioning of the bombing campaign.
Allied leaders moved swiftly to defend the attack, saying that the bunker was a military command and control center giving instructions directly to Iraqi forces. But the huge loss of life and the graphic pictures of the victims may have a devastating impact on public opinion.
Source: Martin Fletcher, "Allied Leaders Claim Bombed Bunker Was Legitimate Military Target," The (London) Times, February 14, 1991, p. 1.
--- The White House Response
Fitzwater's Statement on Bombing of Building in Iraq
Washington, Feb. 13 (Reuters)--Following is a transcript of a statement today by Martin Fitzwater, the White House spokesman, as provided by News Transcripts, Inc.:
Last night coalition forces bombed a military command-and-control center in Baghdad that, according to press reports, resulted in a number of civilian casualties.
The bunker that was attacked last night was a military target, a command-and-control center that fed instructions directly to the Iraqi war machine, painted and camouflaged to avoid detection, and well documented as a military target. We have been systematically attacking these targets since the war began. We don't know why civilians were at this location. But we do know that Saddam Hussein does not share our value in the sanctity of life. Indeed, he, time and again, has shown a willingness to sacrifice civilian lives and property that further his war aims.
Civilian hostages were moved in November and December to military sites for use as human shields. P.O.W.'s reportedly also have been placed at military sites.
Used with permission from Reuters. Adapted from The New York Times, February 14, 1991.
---- Reports from Manilla
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein apparently hopes by emphasizing causalities "to drive a wedge between the United States and the Arab world and Europe, and encourage the U.S. peace movement," said Jim Philips, a Middle East analyst with the Heritage Foundation.
Source: Manilla Bulletin, February 14, 1991, p. B-22
Iraqi officials claim 500 civilians were killed when bombs from a US Stealth jet struck a bomb shelter in a middle-class Baghdad neighborhood before dawn Wednesday.
With distraught relatives looking on, crews spent hours pulling charred bodies--mostly women and children from the rubble. Terry Gander, who edits Jane's NBC Protection Equipment annual: "The idea is that they are intended to be military shelters, but the upper area is let out to the locals," and downstairs is where military officials are set up.
Source: Adapted from Manilla Bulletin, February 15, 1991.
--- Pentagon Remarks
Washington, Feb. 13 (Reuters)--Excerpts from Pentagon Remarks on Iraqi Concrete Building's Destruction.
Navy Captain David Herrington: Why do we know this is a command-and-control facility? We know a great deal about this facility. For example, we know that in the early 80's during the Iran-Iraq War, this facility was constructed. But the key point is, it was converted to a military command-and-control facility in the late 1980's. As a part of that conversion, it was taken over by the military. There was clear and definite association with command-and-control equipment. That command-and-control equipment that was there was actually hardened--it was hardened to protect itself against both normal bombing attacks that would take place plus it was even hardened to the point that it would withstand a nuclear attack. In other words, it had electromagnetic over-pressure E.N.P. protection, electromagnetic pulse protection.
The point being that this is not a shelter in the classic sense of the word. It had a lot of military-associated equipment there. It has a camouflaged roof, and a barbed wire security fence around it.
General Thomas Kelly: First, everything we're seeing is coming out of a controlled press in Baghdad, so we don't know what all the facts are, we don't have a free press there asking hard questions like you all do here. We didn't know that there were people in there. I think I heard on TV earlier today they were going in there every night, but that was strictly hearsay. They could have been put in there last night. We simply don't know.
We don't know what the logic would be to put civilians in a place that had the roof painted camouflage and was the only building in the neighborhood that had the roof painted camouflage.
Used with permission from Reuters. Adapted from The New York Times, February 14, 1991.