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Halabja memory must 'be kept alive'
18.3.2008
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March 18, 2008
HALABJA, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', -- The
primary researcher into the chemical attack on the
Iraqi Kurdistan town of Halabja spoke of the
importance to keep its memory alive on the event's
20th anniversary.
Joost Hiltermann served with Human Rights Watch to
examine the al-Anfal campaign by the Saddam Hussein
regime. The Iraqi military,www.ekurd.net
under the direction of
Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as "Chemical Ali,"
killed scores of Kurdish civilians and guerrillas
using biological and chemical weapons as part of a
crackdown against uprisings in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Hiltermann noted that the event is only now
beginning to surface as an international awareness
issue but said in an interview Sunday with Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty that "it is very important
that the memory of these events be kept alive."
The al-Anfal campaign was the first chemical weapons
attack that deliberately targeted civilian
populations, Hiltermann said, calling it "an act of
genocide that also is relatively unknown in the
world."
He noted that "there's absolutely no evidence of
birth defects resulting from the use of chemical
weapons in 1988" but pointed to long-term health
consequences and the lingering effects on the
community as having a sustained impact.
The lack of justice and accountability of such acts
was also a matter of contention.
"I would say that if justice is not done to ...
ensure that people who committed these acts are
punished appropriately, then there is no effective
deterrent."
The Iraqi Presidential Council said in February they
removed the blockade on the execution of Majid,
suggesting it could happen "in a matter of days."
UPI
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