|
January
3, 2007
Iraqi Kurds in the town of Halabja (Kurdistan region
) had more reasons than most to welcome Saturday's
execution of Saddam Hussein.
In March 1988, towards the end of the Iran-Iraq war,
5000 Kurds died in a chemical attack by Iraqi
aircraft on the town, which had recently been
occupied by Iranian forces.
Al Jazeera's Barnaby Philips visited a cemetery in
the town to find out what relatives of the dead
thought of Saddam's executions.
Singing and dancing
By his father's grave, Anwar Hasamim and his family
search for comfort.
Today, as every day, haunted by the moment when a
burning pain fell on their town.
The chemical attack left Anwar's father injured but
no doctor could treat him, and his eventual death
came almost as a relief.
Saddam's execution meant a lot to this family.
"When we heard the news, people gathered - singing
and dancing and handing out sweets and visiting one
another to celebrate," Anwar says.
"I don't think there is anyone happier than the
people of Halabja to see the end of this era because
we were the most oppressed during Saddam's regime."
Crumbling infrastructure
Today we know Iraq as a country numbed by horror,
yet still Halabja stands out.
Nineteen years have passed since Saddam's atrocity
and, in the meantime, there has been very little
re-development and investment.
Today Halabja is a squalid town and many people
complain that it has been badly neglected by the
Kurdish government.
On the streets, people talk about corruption and
wonder when someone will do something about the
crumbling infrastructure.
Another mourner at the cemetary, Garip Said, whose
two brothers died fighting Saddam says every true
Kurd is glad to see the back of the former Iraqi
ruler.
"As a human being you cannot be happy with the death
of another person, even your enemy. But Saddam was a
different case.
"He was a monster, and those executed him and
witnessed it were not militia - they were true
Iraqis who inflicted justice upon him."
In Halabja, the evidence of Saddam's crimes is
written on the gravestones at the cemetery.
And Kurds here believe that peace was impossible
while he lived.
aljazeera net
Top |
® 