Nineteen years ago,
Saddam Hussein
shocked the
conscience of
mankind by dropping
chemical weapons on
the people of
Halabja, killing
more than 5000
children, women, and
and men. After
bombing the city,
Saddam then
destroyed it. I
vividly recall
visiting the ruined
city shortly after
its liberation in
1991. A man, his
eyes still hurting
from the effects of
the poison gas,
described how he
lost his entire
family. In a
basement where more
than forty people
died taking shelter,
I was overpowered by
the stench of
rotting clothes. And
in a graveyard, a
man put his hands
into a pile of dirt
to pull out the
skulls of two
children.
The international
community barely
responded to the
Halabja atrocity. At
that time, Saddam
Hussein was seen as
a strategic partner.
Halabja should serve
as a reminder that
we can never be
partners with
perpetrators of
genocide. And, we
should understand
why the people of
Kurdistan now insist
on having their own
state. I believe it
should be a tenet of
international law
that no people
should have to be
part of a country
that targeted them
for extermination.