This work chronicles the story of the Kurdish genocide that was not told during the trial of Saddam Hussein. Cover image for Ghosts of Halabja Saddam Hussein's execution for his crimes against Iraq's Shia not only brought an end to his.
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So all the press sat there and we were each handed a child to carry. As we took off, fluid came out of my little girl's mouth and she died in my arms. Saddam Hussein's government officially blamed Iran for the attack. Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz stated categorically: The United States intelligence and government suggested that that Kurdish civilians were not a deliberate target, and even that Iran was indeed responsible. Punitive measures such as unilateral sanctions would not be effective in changing Iraq's behaviour over chemical weapons, and would damage British interests to no avail.
Survivors assisted by peshmerga and Iranians hastily buried most of the dead in makeshift mass graves.
Halabja chemical attack - WikiVisually
After Halabja was retaken from Iranian and Kurdish rebel forces, Iraqi troops in NBC suits came to Halabja to study the effectiveness of their weapons and attacks. The town, still littered with unburied dead, was then systematically razed [10] by Iraqi forces using bulldozers and explosives. It was partially rebuilt by the returning Kurds later, even as chemical weapons contaminated the food and water supplies, [3] soil, and animal populations. Ten years later, in , at least people were still being treated for the severe after effects of the attack and of them were judged to be critically ill, even as "the most severe cases may already have died.
Additionally, "other cancers, respiratory ailments, skin and eye problems, fertility and reproductive disorders are measurably higher in Halabja and other areas caught in chemical attacks. Saddam Hussein was not charged by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for crimes against humanity based on the events at Halabja. However, Iraqi prosecutors had " documented baskets of crimes during the Hussein regime" and Hussein was condemned to death based on just one case, the Dujail Massacre.
A second document said in reply that Saddam had ordered military intelligence to study the possibility of a "sudden strike" using such weapons against Iranian and Kurdish forces.
Ghosts of Halabja
An internal memo written by military intelligence confirmed it had received approval from the president's office for a strike using "special ammunition" and emphasized that no strike would be launched without first informing the president. Saddam himself told the court: But I will discuss any act committed against our people and any Iraqi citizen, whether Arab or Kurdish. I don't accept any insult to my principles or to me personally. Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid who commanded Iraqi forces in northern Iraq during that period, which earned him a nickname of 'Chemical Ali' was condemned to death by hanging by an Iraqi court in January , after being found guilty of orchestrating the Halabja massacre.
Al-Majid was first sentenced to hang in for his role in a military campaign against ethnic Kurds, codenamed Anfal, and in he also twice received a death sentence for his crimes against the Iraqi Shia Muslims , in particular for his role in crushing the uprisings in southern Iraq and his involvement in the killings in the Sadr City district of Baghdad then called Saddam City.
Al-Majid did not express remorse at his trials, stating his actions were in the interests of Iraqi security. He was executed by hanging on January 25, The know-how and material for developing chemical weapons were obtained by Saddam's regime from foreign sources. One Indian company, Exomet Plastics, sent 2, tons of precursor chemicals to Iraq. Singapore-based firm Kim Al-Khaleej, affiliated to the United Arab Emirates, supplied more than 4, tons of VX , sarin and mustard gas precursors and production equipment to Iraq.
The Yugoslav Connection" concludes it was "tacit approval" by many world governments that led to the Iraqi regime being armed with weapons of mass destruction , despite sanctions, because of the ongoing Iranian conflict. Among the chemical precursors provided to Iraq from American companies such as Alcolac International and Phillips was thiodiglycol , a substance needed to manufacture mustard gas, according to leaked portions of Iraq's "full, final and complete" disclosure of the sources for its weapons programs.
Alcolac was named as a defendant in the Aziz v. Both companies have since undergone reorganization. Phillips, once a subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum is now part of ConocoPhillips , an American oil and discount fossil fuel company.
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Alcolac International has since dissolved and reformed as Alcolac Inc. On December 23, , a Dutch court sentenced Frans van Anraat , a businessman who bought chemicals on the world market and sold them to Saddam's regime, to 15 years in prison. The court ruled that Saddam committed genocide against the people of Halabja; [26] this was the first time the Halabja attack was described as an act of genocide in a court ruling. In March , the government of Iraq announced plans to take legal action against the suppliers of chemicals used in the attack.
In 20 Iraqi Kurds took legal action to expose two French companies - not named - whom their lawyers say were among 20 or more companies that helped Saddam Hussein construct a chemical weapons arsenal. State Department , in the immediate aftermath of the incident, took the official position that Iran was partly to blame. Pelletiere, co-authored an unclassified analysis of the war [29] which contained a brief summary of the DIA study's key points.
The CIA altered its position radically in the late s and cited Halabja frequently in its evidence of weapons of mass destruction before the invasion of Iraq. Pelletiere claimed that a fact that has not been successfully challenged is that Iraq was not known to have possessed the cyanide -based blood agents determined to have been responsible for the condition of the bodies that were examined, [30] and that blue discolorations around the mouths of the victims and in their extremities, [31] pointed to Iranian-used gas as the culprit.
Leo Casey writing in Dissent Magazine argued that "none of the authors of these documents [ Joost Hiltermann, who was the principal researcher for Human Rights Watch between —, conducted a two-year study of the massacre, including a field investigation in northern Iraq. According to his analysis of thousands of captured Iraqi secret police documents and declassified U. According to Hiltermann, the literature on the Iran-Iraq war reflects a number of allegations of chemical weapons use by Iran, but these are "marred by a lack of specificity as to time and place, and the failure to provide any sort of evidence.
In August , Foreign Policy charged, based on recently declassified CIA documents and interviews with former intelligence officials, that the U.
Saddam's regime also received intelligence assistance from the CIA in prior to the Iraqis' early launch of sarin attacks to stop the potentially decisive Iranian offensive to capture the southern city of Basra , which, if successful, might have resulted in a collapse of Iraqi military and government. In March , the Monument of Halabja Martyrs was built in the still largely ruined city. On March 16, , a few thousand angry residents rioted at the site in protest of what they perceived as the neglect of the living and capitalizing on the tragedy by the Kurdish leadership.
The memorial was set on fire, destroying most of its archives; one of the rioters was shot dead by the police and dozens of people were injured. Coordinates at line Kurdish Rebellion of and Al-Anfal Campaign. Iraqi chemical weapons program. Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. Thousands die in Halabja gas attack". Survivors talk about horror of attack, continuing ordeal". Human Rights Watch Report, March 11, ".
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Analysis of soil samples from Kurdistan". Retrieved 15 November Archived from the original on This ebook is the 1st to offer an interpretive strategy integrating biblical legislation, jurisprudence, and literary concept, reflecting the present legislation and literature college inside of criminal experiences.
Extra resources for Ghosts of Halabja: He recounted his story to a Financial Times reporter in Down in our shelter we felt short of breath. A soldier went out and next door he saw that the caged birds of our neighbour were all dead.
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We stayed in the shelter until evening, but then I just wanted to escape. We wrapped our faces in wet towels. It was hard to breathe. One friend became blind immediately when he removed his towel. Remaining peshmerga would stay behind and cover the retreat out of Iraq.
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The sixth Anfal launched coordinated air strikes, making shambles of the escape plan. Multiple chemical bombardments in the main valleys Balisan, Malakan, Warta, Hiran, and Smaquli drove the people up into the mountain slopes to get above the gas clouds settling along their escape routes. Then, cluster bombs directed into the mountainsides drove them back down into the valleys— scattering people everywhere. Iraqi units quickly collected survivors and shipped them off to the dreadful Topzawa camp. Decree number came into effect immediately.
The stories of the Anfals had been leaking out to the Western media from Kurdish refugees hiding in Turkey. General al-Majid was given special command powers to resettle the Kurds as they returned. However, they would not be settled in their now destroyed villages. Returning Kurds would be settled where General al-Majid wanted them settled and they would be permitted to build their own houses in designated areas. Kelly Saddam Hussein's execution for his crimes opposed to Iraq's Shia not just introduced an finish to his reign of oppression, but additionally to the justice that was once to be served to the Iraqi Kurds.
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