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Reports From Iraq > Wed., Mar. 17, 2004
On the Anniversary of Halabja
60 year old Aftow Khafood with her 13 year old daughter
in Benslawa refugee camp outside Arbil, Iraq. She fled
on foot to Iran when the Iraqi Army gassed her village
in 1988. 16 years later, she's still a refugee. The United
Nations has provided her family with toilet facilities
and 200 cinder blocks which she has stacked into make-shift
walls. The American government has provided her with nothing. |
BENSLAWA, IRAQ The Bush Administration likes to talk about
Halabja. On March 16, 1988, the Iraqi military dropped deadly
serin gas on the Kurdish city of Halabja instantly killing
5,000 civilians and making the rest of the area's population
refugees.
In Halabja yesterday for anniversary commemorations, US
Administrator Paul Bremer said the bombing served as proof
that last year's US-led invasion of Iraq was justified. He
urged "those who doubt the rationale" for George
Bush's war "to come to Halabja and see the tombstones
of 5,000 men, women, and children". He asked peace activists
"to see how a peaceful village was turned into hell over-night
by evil."
What Bremer failed to mention in his speech is that at the
time -- America was supporting Saddam Hussein.
In the 1980s, the Iraqi Army was locked in a long war with
Iran. Europe and America backed Saddam -- And Kurdish guerillas
- tired of Saddam's oppressive rule - sided with Iran.
"At this time America and Saddam were thinking the same
way because America wanted to destroy the revolution in Iran,"
notes, Retired Iraqi Brigadeer General Zekki Daoud Jabber.
In an interview in his Baghdad home, Zekki explains that
he purchased advanced surveillance equipment from France,
West Germany, Sweden and Japan and air-craft from Italy, Britain
and Canada. He says more controversial purchases were routed
through Chile and South Africa. At the time, Chile was ruled
by General Augusto Pinochet, who had come to power in an American-backed
coup det tat. Apartheid South Africa was also supported by
America. In addition, General Zekki says he personally saw
chemical weapons arrive on airplanes from American-run NATO
air-bases in Germany.
"I was in the air-base and I knew all the pilots from
the squadron -- from Tupolov 76. This is a big aircraft for
transportation," he says. "They changed the frame
and covered it with a sign saying Iraqi Airways. I saw the
pilot every day and he told me they were bringing so many
barrels of chemical weapons."
Among Kurds today, American complicity in the bombing of
Halabja is an accepted fact. Rafat Abdel Mohammed Amin, the
mayor of Benslawa Kurdish refugee camp tells us the gassing
of 5,000 is a reminder American's current support for the
Kurds could be short-lived.
"The USA supported Saddam because they thought this
relationship would benefit them," he says. "Every
country does this. Then they changed their mind. They wanted
to remove Saddam, so they started a war against him."
What troubles Kurds more is why all the international attention
given to the massacre at Halabja hasn't translated into better
living conditions for the over-150,000 refugees who still
live in camps. 16 years after the incident, packed mud and
a canvas tarp still serves as the roof of 60 year old Aftow
Khafood's home in Benslawa refugee camp. The United Nations
has provided her family with toilet facilities and 200 cinder
blocks which she has stacked into make-shift walls. The American
government has provided her with nothing.
"We would like to improve our situation," she says
as her 14 year old daughter stands next to her. Her daughter
- like so many residents of Benslawa was born in a camp. "When
it rains, we are afraid our house will collapse down on our
heads. We want to return to our homes and live like others
in normal houses."
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