August 3, 2007
Washington, -- In his new book, A Poisonous
Affair: America, Iraq, and the Gassing of Halabja,
Joost Hiltermann explores the Iran-Iraq war of the
1980’s and the Iraqi government’s “Anfal Campaign”
against its own Kurdish citizens. Iraq used chemical
weapons against Iran during the war years and it
carried out mass killings of Iraqi Kurds. The most
deadly attack was
on the town of Halabja, in Iraqi Kurdistan, in March
1988.
Joost Hiltermann says his book developed out of a
research project on the Anfal Campaign, which he
conducted for Human Rights Watch, beginning in 2000.
He describes being “stunned” by the lack of public
attention to the genocide against the Kurds.
Speaking with host Judith Latham of VOA News Now’s
Press Conference USA and with Omar Sheikhmous, chief
of VOA’s Kurdish Service, Mr. Hiltermann says that
the Iraqi government’s use of chemical weapons has
“shaped the psychologies” of groups that are
involved in Iraq’s current conflict.
According to Mr. Hiltermann, the use of chemical
weapons was both integral to Iraq’s war strategy and
was vital in ending the war with Iran. Of particular
relevance is what he calls the “collusion” of the
Reagan administration.
He explains that the United States was so “spooked”
by the idea of an Islamic revolution that the
administration essentially gave Iraqis the “green
light” to use chemical weaponry in the Iran-Iraq
war.
Joost Hiltermann believes that the development of
chemical and biological weapons by Iraq and Iran was
the “direct result of international tolerance”
during the Iran-Iraq war. He claims that the Kurds
have an “overpowering fear” that something like the
Anfal Campaign may be repeated and can no longer
trust a central government in Iraq.
And this explains why Kurdish leaders are so keen to
gain autonomy and ultimately independence from the
rest of Iraq, as evidenced by their commitment to
the referendum in Kirkuk, an area with a mixed
ethnic population.
Mr. Hiltermann says there is still considerable
denial in Iraq about the “legacy” of Saddam
Hussein’s regime. And it will be difficult to
convince people that what happened not only did
happen but also was fundamentally “wrong” – both
morally and strategically.
He says that a general acceptance of guilt would
greatly help the healing process, but he thinks
“mismanagement by the United States” has instead had
the opposite effect.
To ensure that such events are not repeated and that
the threat of chemical weapons proliferation is kept
under control, Mr. Hiltermann says the international
community needs to look to the precedent set by the
1925 Geneva Convention, which banned the use of
chemical weapons, and by the 1993 Chemical Weapons
Convention.
International law, he argues, should ensure all
countries that agree to these restrictions “don’t
make reservations” as the United States did with
Iraq during the 1980’s. |
Joost Hiltermann manages a team of analysts based in
Amman and Beirut conducting research in the
countries of the Middle East
Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons on the Kurdish
city of Halabja on March 16, 1988. 5,000 civilians,
many of them women, children and the elderly, died
within hours of the attack. Thousands more were
blinded, maimed and disfigured |
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