Halabja, Kurdistan-Iraq, July 16, -- Former
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is facing several
trials on separate charges of crimes against
humanity. One of those trials will focus on the 1988
gassing deaths of some 5,000 Kurds in the northern
Iraqi city of Halabja.
Halabja's streets are very quiet on a hot afternoon,
lending an eerie feeling to this city which was
destroyed in a single day.
The attack on Halabja came in the last months of the
eight year long war between Iraq and Iran. The town
was a political stronghold of the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan party, which had an alliance with Tehran.
Many Kurds believe Halabja was a target because of
that alliance.
Mustafa and Abdullah survived the March 16, 1988
chemical attack. |
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP |
|
Halabja resident, Abdullah, says the day before the
chemical attack people in the town were saying
Iranian troops had arrived to protect the Kurds from
Saddam's army.
Abdullah says the next day, March 16, around 9 a.m.
they heard reconnaissance planes above the city.
About two hours later, he says, the first sortie of
Iraqi aircraft bombed the city. He says the planes
kept coming in 10 minute intervals for about nine
hours.
Sixty-five year old Mustafa says the Iraqi planes
first dropped leaflets to see which way the wind was
blowing. Then they began to bomb using napalm and
rockets and finally the chemical weapons.
Some victims are buried in Halabja cemetery A guard
at the cemetery where many of the Halabja victims
are buried says he was 16 years old at the time of
the attack and living in Iran.
He says he remembers an Iraqi air force plane was
shot down over the Iranian city of Esfahan, and the
pilot was paraded on Iranian television. He says the
pilot said his mission was to bomb the city, with
the intention of blowing out all the windows and
doors of buildings, so when the chemical weapons
were dropped, the gas would filter everywhere and no
one would be spared.
Halabja is near the Iranian border, and many
residents tried to escape the bombing by Some of the
victims are buried in mass graves in the
cemetarygoing into the hills and crossing the
mountains into Iran.
Mustafa says the bombs continued to fall as people
fled toward the border. Inside Iran's border is the
Sirvan river. He says those who reached the river
survived, but many others were killed as they tried
to reach it. Mustafa says he lost some 40 members of
his extended family in the attack.
Abdullah, who also fled to Iran with his family,
says "while we were escaping, they bombed us, and
there were bodies of Iranian soldiers and Kurdish
villagers scattered everywhere."
A street scene in Halabja Abdullah says the Iranians
helped many of the wounded, evacuating them to
hospitals and a large sports stadium on the Iranian
side of the border.
Today, the town still bears the scars of the attack
18 years ago. Many survivors suffered terrible
injuries and remain disabled. Others suffer
psychological problems, and many children of
survivors have been born with birth defects.
Survivors say they hope Saddam will soon finally
face justice for his crimes.
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