June
25, 2007
In a few days, "Chemical Ali" will face death by
hanging. Ali Hassan al-Majid earned his nickname
after he ordered the use of chemical weapons to
eradicate the population of Halabja, a Kurdish town
located near Iraq's northern border with Iran.
A day before the Iraqi High Tribunal sentenced Majid
and two co-defendants to death for committing
genocide against the Kurds, we visited Halabja, the
scene of some of the most heinous crimes perpetrated
by the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The chemical attacks on this border town was
followed by the complete destruction of every
building and the mass execution of fleeing refugees.
The town was then burned and the surrounding area
heavily mined.
Halabja has since come back to life, but its future
stability and welfare are still at risk. The
conviction of Majid does not absolve the
international community, which did nothing at the
time to help the victims, from investing in these
people's future today.
Their needs are dire. Halabja has yet to recover
from the physical and psychological destruction it
suffered at the hands of Saddam's regime. It remains
one of the poorest and most rundown urban areas in
the otherwise prospering Kurdish region of Iraq. |
Ali Hassan al-Majid, first cousin of executed
dictator Saddam Hussein and also known as 'Chemical
Ali' sentenced to death over Kurdish genocide, AP |
|
Social services are quasi non-existent. Trash and
sewage abounds in the city center. Piles of
blackened bricks haunt every corner, every street.
Access to basic medical care is severely limited by
the dearth of supplies and equipment. This, in a
town that must grapple with record levels of
cancers, congenital deformities and other
incalculable long-term repercussions linked to
chemical exposure.
A tour of the Halabja hospital leaves the visitor in
no doubt that this town is at the bottom of the
international community's agenda for Iraqi
reconstruction. Except for the Swedish government,
which helped erect this modest building in 1999, few
international donors appear to show much interest in
improving this population's future.
The desperation of Halabja's citizens came to a boil
two years ago, when an angry mob, frustrated by the
lack of government services, burned down the very
memorial dedicated to their own tragedy. This
shocking act was a protest against a sad reality.
The outside world appeared to care more about
Halabja's past than about its future.
This should be a warning to those who believe that
the execution of Chemical Ali means the job in
Halabja is done. While the perpetrators of mass
murder deserve punishment, we have both an ethical
and a practical responsibility to steer the victims
towards a brighter tomorrow.
From an ethical standpoint, the West bears
substantial responsibility for this tragedy.
Chemicals and mines were provided to Saddam Hussein
by European companies (including Dutch and Italian
firms), and Washington's lack of a meaningful
response to this atrocity allowed the Iraqi dictator
and his henchmen to move forward with their campaign
of extermination.
On a practical level, the danger of inaction is
illustrated by recent history. As late as 2003, the
al Qaeda-linked terrorist group Ansar al-Islam was
able to prey on the desperate population of Halabja
and its surroundings to gain a foothold in the
region.
A coalition of U.S. special forces and Kurdish
Peshermgas were eventually able to uproot this
threat after the invasion of Iraq. The challenge is
to ensure that Halabja, and the rest of the region,
remain free of extremist and destabilizing groups
which are diametrically opposed to the coalition's
mission in Iraq.
It has become obvious over the past several years
that the war in Iraq is being fought battle by
battle on a regional level. In the case of this
province, there is an opportunity to cement a
lasting victory against the forces of terror. This
fight will require a sustained and targeted
commitment to the region's social and economic
development.
As Chemical Ali's sentence was being read out on
Iraqi television, the Halabja residents who stood
besides us showed little emotion.
When questioned, they explained that they had waited
a long time for this moment but that true justice,
for them and their town, should go beyond this man's
execution.
In their eyes, Halabja deserved to be returned to
the community it was before the deceptively sweet
scent of the first chemical weapons reached them on
that morning in March 1988. The international
community has a duty, and an interest, to help them
see this vision through.
Amir Afkhami teaches at the School of Public
Health and Health Services of the George Washington
University Medical Center. Michael Soussan, a
journalist and lecturer at New York University's
Center for Global Affairs, is a former program
coordinator for the United Nations Iraq Program.
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