KURDISTAN NEWSLINE
September
16, 2003
Secretary Powell
Honors Halabja Victims
"By
your actions here at this spot and by the
construction of this museum, you have made sure
that you will never forget but above all, the
world will never forget. And I will always
remember Halabja."-
Secretary Powell
Colin Powell, Jalal Talabani (left) and Suhayba
Abdul-Rahman, a victim of a 1988 Iraqi chemical
atrocity, light candles at a memorial built on a
mass grave in Halabja
Halabja,
Sept. 15—US Secretary of State Colin Powell on
Monday honored thousands of Kurds gassed by the
Iraqi Army 15 years ago. At a poignant ceremony,
Mr. Powell, flanked by Kurdish leaders Jalal
Talabani and Masoud Barzani and Ambassador L. Paul
Bremer III, addressed the victim families, saying:
“ This town is marked in history forever. The
world should have acted sooner. What happened here
in 1988 is never to happen again.”
After a
minute's silence, Mr. Powell stopped to speak to a
mother carrying photographs of her dead children,
before lighting candles in the center of the room
with the other officials.
Against a
backdrop of 1,076 symbolic white headstones in the
local graveyard, one for each family that lost
members, Powell pledged that the world would never
forget Halabja. Powell was enthusiastically
welcomed by thousands of citizens of Halabja, some
of whom lost up to two dozen relatives in the
deadliest use of gas since World War II.
The people
of Halabja had adorned the graveyard, where
thousands of the victims are buried in mass
graves, with many pro-American banners. One
declared, "The world should not doubt Saddam's
weapons," while another said, "Help us bring
justice to the war criminals." Children held aloft
portraits of US President George W Bush and
banners emblazoned with: "Our liberators are
welcome," "We love America" or "Thank you
President Bush".
Powell also
visited a monument to victims, where Suhayba Abdul
Rahman showed the secretary a picture of her five
children and husband killed in the attack. Blinded
by the chemicals — a common problem here — Rahman
thanked Bush for launching the war but asked
Powell to help her get medical attention to try to
restore her sight.
The names of the 5,000 victims are inscribed on
the circular walls of the modest memorial. A
separate room contains a life-size scene of the
devastation, with bodies of children, women and
men sprawled on top of one another on the ground
as they try to flee. A mist depicts the clouds
left by chemical weapons.
"Fifteen
years ago much of the world doubted the evil of
Saddam and refused to act in the face of his
weapons of mass destruction," said Dr.Barham
Salih, Kurdistan Regional prime minister. He
added, "It is perplexing for the people of
Halabja, indeed rather painful, to hear voices in
the international community that continue to
insist on proof of Saddam's weapons of mass
destruction."
Massoud Barzani
In his
welcoming remarks for Mr. Powell, the Kurdish
leader Masoud Barzani underscored the irrefutable
moral case to rid Iraq of the totalitarian
Ba’athist regime. He hailed President Bush and
Prime Minister Blair for their courageous decision
to help the people of Iraq to get rid of the
Saddam tyranny. And for those who are still in
doubt about the evil intentions of Saddamite
regime, he invited them to “ Come to Halabja, see
for yourselves what he as wrought.” He emphasized
the genuine partnership of the people of Kurdistan
with the liberating coalition forces and vowed to
exert every effort to safeguard the liberation
gains and in order to establish a democratic,
federal and plurastic system. Mr. Barzani also
affirmed the Kurdish people’s solidarity with
America in its war against global terrorism.
In his
remarks the Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani said
Kurds have a saying that they have no friends but
the remote mountains where they live. But after
the U.S. invasion, he said, "I am proud that after
so many years of loneliness we have friends like
you."
He said Halabja's mass graves "validate the
morality of your intervention
Halabja
March 16, 1988: “The
slowly settling cloud had a sweetish, sugary odor,
like overripe fruit”, survivors told Secretary
Powell yesterday.
At least 5,000 people perished.
Part of wider "Anfal"
campaign against Kurdistan
Halabja,
a Kurdistan town in the foothills of Hawraman
Mountains, was the worst hit of at least 40 towns
and villages during the
Anfal
("The Spoils") a systematic genocidal campaign,
when the Iraqi air force dropped bombs full of
sarin, tabun, VX and mustard gas on people of
Kurdistan.
Tens of
thousands tried to flee, but Iraq's military
dropped more bombs cutting off escape, according
to Kurdish officials and international
humanitarian groups.
Aveen Jawhar was 8 months old in 1988. In the
crowd to greet Powell, the teenager is
going blind
and has a continuous cough that prevents her from
going to school or working. Dozens of other
victims were in the crowd.
Dana Nazif lost 35 relatives in the chemical
attack
Dana Nazif's
mother and four-year-old sister were among the
5,000 people who died in Halabja. Just a teenager,
Dana fled to Iran three days after the attack, the
effects of which are still being felt in Halabja
where the population suffers high rates of
cancers, miscarriages and genetic abnormalities.
"I was 15
years old when the attack happened. There had been
shelling for three days so the schools were
closed.
"I fell unconscious when the bombardment started.
"Most people
were in shelters and underground bunkers. When
they realized it was a chemical attack they tried
to get out, but most of them died in their
shelters.
"A bomb fell here - in this small area, between
250 and 300 people died. In my own family my
mother, brother and two of my sisters died. In
all, I lost 35 relatives.
Offspring of
survivors in Halabja and other targeted towns have
been born with or have developed serious medical
problems, including deformities and cancers,
according to a British medical geneticist, Dr.
Christine Gosden, who has tracked problems for a
decade. Based on scientific studies, scientists
have concluded that the victims of Halabja and
other Anfal sites had been exposed "to the highest
doses of the most potent cocktails of chemicals
and biological nerve and mustard agents ever used
against civilians."
Barham Salih
Introductory remarks
at the
inauguration of the Halabja Memorial
Secretary
Powell, Excellencies, Distinguished Guests:
We are
here today to pay homage at the site of an
atrocity. At this place some 15 years ago,
Saddam's regime massacred as many as 5,000
defenseless civilians with chemical weapons—the
largest such use of poison gas against civilians
since the Holocaust.
Mr
Secretary, you have just come from the United
States where you have commemorated the innocents
whose lives were so cruelly taken on September 11.
Halabja and September 11 were both products of
debased politics, the barbarism of terrorists and
tyrants that has become a plague afflicting our
world.
We are
proud, Mr. Secretary, to be your allies in the
battle against tyranny and terrorism. Having
benefited from your support and protection for 12
years, we see no need to apologize for our
partnership with the United States in the cause of
freedom and democracy. As an "old trooper", you
can be very proud of what your young men and women
in uniform have achieved here in Iraq. They have
helped save an entire people from mass graves.
They are helping us to build a future in which
there will never be again a massacres in Halabja.
The Kurds,
in partnership with other Iraqis, are determined
to win this battle to build a new Iraq: a
democratic federal Iraq that will be at peace with
itself and at peace with its neighbors. We We We
are bound with our Iraqi compatriots in our
commitment not to let tyranny grip our country
ever again, and I know that in this endeavor we
have genuine friends and partners in President
Bush and Prime Minster Blair.
The
memorial of Halabja is to honor their victims…and
ensure that future generations will not forget…
lest we forget the terror and mass murder that
gripped this land for so long… Halabja is reminder
to what indifference to tyranny means to humanity…
15 years ago much the world doubted the evil of
Saddam and refused to act in face of his weapons
of mass destruction… It is perplexing for the
people of Halabja, indeed rather painful, to hear
voices in the international
community that continue to insist on proof for
Saddam's Weapons of Mass destruction…here is the
proof… Halabja is the proof… they live, or rather
they choose to live in a state of denial… if they
were serious in their pursuit of the evidence of
Saddam's WMDs, they would come to Halabja to
witness the proof firsthand.
This mass
grave in Halabja, and the other 170 So far
discovered mass graves throughout Iraq, should
dispel any doubts about the legitimacy of the
American-British liberation of Iraq. These mass
graves vindicate the moral imperative of your
intervention to protect the people of Iraq.
Liberation of Iraq was a victory of morality
against the immorality of indifference and
complicity.
In Iraq,
Saddam and his terrorist allies believe that they
can disrupt our march to building a new Iraq that
is at peace with itself and at peace with the
world. Like his role model who
once lived in Berlin, the butcher of Baghdad has
miscalculated. Saddam and his terrorist
allies will lose and we, together, will win. The
war criminals will be brought to justice, and it
will be wonderful twist of fate if Saddam and Ali
Chemical were to be brought to a war crimes
tribunal in Halabja.
Mr.
Secretary, we thank you for attending this
commemoration and I thank your nation for offering
the people of Halabja – and the people of Iraq – a
chance to rebuild their shattered lives.
I am also proud also Mr. Secretary
that this occasion has also brought together the
senior Iraqi Kurdish leaders, Mr. Talabani and Mr.
Barzani, to reaffirm to you and to our people
their unity in
commitment to the cause of free democratic federal
Iraq.. I am privileged to invite Mr. Barzani to
address the gathering.
Halabja
September 15, 2003
Jalal
Talabani Remarks
Jalal Talabani
A Kurdish
proverb says that the Kurds have no friends but
the mountains. These mountains of Hawraman have
been our refuge and only friend for centuries as
we struggled for freedom. But, I am proud that
now, after so many years of loneliness in our
struggle, we have friends far away from the
mountains of Kurdistan. I am proud that an icon of
American freedom is in our midst supporting our
cause for liberty and justice .I salute you
Secretary Powell, and I am grateful for your
presence among us here.Your presence here tells us
that we are no longer alone – we have friends
beyond the mountains of Kurdistan . I want to say
to you that we are proud of our partnership and
friendship with the United States in the battle
against tyranny and terrorism.
We are
gathered at this site to commemorate a terrible
crime against humanity. The people of Halabja were
gassed in their thousands, and the world then was
indifferent. Beyond few moral voices that spoke
and tried to act, much of the world was
indifferent to the tyranny of Saddam and the
Genocide of the Kurdish people.
We are here
today to say halabja never again. WE ARE HERE TO
SAY NO MORE GENOCIDE IN IRAQ, AND NO MORE MASS
GRAVES IN IRAQ.
We can be
confident this time there will be no more halabjaS
.
BECAUSE OF
AMERICAN-BRITISH LED LIBERATION OF IRAQ, we arE
free from saddam's TYRANNY. we no longer fear
CHEMICAL WEAPONS and genocide.
what we
fear, however, is the attitude of denial by some
in the international community. it is rather
disappointing—in fact painful- that some still
question saddam's wmdS. they are still asking for
proof of saddam'S weapons of terror. if they were
seriOUS, THEY WOULD COME HERE TO HALABJA TO SEE
THE WEALTH OF EVIDENCE OF SADDAM'S BRUTALITY AND
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.
Now we have
the challenge to build a new iraq. A iraq that is
at peace with itself and with ITS NEIGHBORS. a
federal and democratic iraq that will never
tolerate another massacre in halabja.
i know we
have a good opportunity to achieve this desired
iraq. thanks to the leadership of president bush
and prime MINISTER blair, we have a THIS
OPPORTUNITY. their FRIENDSHIP and COMMITMENT to
the cause of freedom in this land is a as
important as our MOUNTAINS.
Halabja
september 15, 2003
Remarks of Halabja
Mass Grave Site Ceremony
By Secretary Colin L. Powell
September 15, 2003
Thank you so much, Mr. Barzani, for your words and
for that kind introduction. It’s a great honor for
me to be here today and to see the assembled
citizens of this town that is now marked in
history forever, and to see this beautiful
monument.
This is a very special place and I should say
something special to you. What can I say to you? I
cannot tell you that choking mothers died holding
their choking babies to their chests. You know
that. I cannot tell you that Saddam Hussein was a
murderous tyrant. You know that. I cannot tell you
that the world should have acted sooner. You know
that. I cannot tell you of the suffering of those
who were poisoned but nevertheless lived. You know
that.
What I can tell you is that what happened here in
1988 is never going to happen again. Chemical Ali
is in jail. He will stay in jail until an Iraqi
court decides his fate. Saddam is running and
hiding. He is going to keep running and keep
hiding until we catch him or until he dies. Beyond
that, the system that spawned them, a system of
coups and plots and assassins is smashed and will
never return.
Right now, Iraqis of many faiths, many heritages,
run the day-to-day affairs of Iraq. Fairly soon,
you will vote on a new permanent constitution and
then, on a new government. That new government
will answer to the people of Iraq, will be
accountable to you for its actions.
If some future tyrant should try to turn the armed
forces against the Iraqi people, he will find
officers and men who have sworn their loyalty not
to him, but to the new constitution.
The 5000 men and women and children murdered in
Halabja live in the memory of those who knew them.
And those who knew them constructed a museum so
that others might always remember them.
By your actions here at this spot and by the
construction of this museum, you have made sure
that you will never forget but above all, the
world will never forget. And I will always
remember Halabja.
Thank you very much.
Remarks of Secretary Powell with Foreign Minister
Zebari
Baghdad September 14, 2003
FOREIGN MINISTER
ZEBARI:
(As translated from Arabic) I’d like to welcome
all of you. We are very delighted and happy to
have with us Secretary Colin Powell. We’ve waited
for him for a long time to come. He is a friend of
the Iraqi people. He has helped Iraq to be
liberated and we owe him a great deal. We owe him,
we owe the American people and the American
Administration, and all other governments that
helped us to be free and get rid of the
dictatorship, terrorism and mass graves. We have
conducted fruitful meetings with Secretary Powell.
We have talked about a variety of issues, among
them the Iraqi participation in the Arab League
meetings, which we believe was an achievement for
the Governing Council and for Iraq. And we talked
about Iraq’s participation in the UN General
Assembly. I would like to say, once again, we are
grateful for Secretary Powell and thank you and
welcome you here, sir.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Mr.
Minister, for your welcome. It’s a great pleasure
for me to be in Baghdad for the first time, but
this time to be with you. Also, the first meeting
we’ve had in a liberated Iraq, a liberated
Baghdad. Let me begin by congratulating you for
the success you enjoyed not too many days ago when
you persuaded the Arab League to allow you to sit
as the Foreign Minister of Iraq for this
provisional one-year period. And I think it shows
that people recognize that things are changing
here, that there is now a Council of Government
that is working, we now have Cabinet Ministers who
are starting to function. Of course, the Foreign
Minister demonstrated that in Cairo at the Arab
League and he’ll demonstrate it again in a week or
so at the United Nations when he will be
representing Iraq there with a strong delegation.
Earlier today there was an announcement that Iraq
will now have an independent judiciary, another
sign that the Cabinet Ministries are starting to
work and starting to perform. This is how you
build a government, you begin with a nucleus, a
Governing Council, it expands out to Cabinet
Ministers, Cabinet Ministers start to function and
take on more and more responsibility, with the
assistance of Ambassador Bremer and the CPA team
here. And we look forward to the next steps that
will come, the writing of a constitution and from
that constitution, the people will be given a
chance to express their will as to how they will
be governed. This will lead to a democratic Iraq
that we will be most pleased to pass full
authority to in due course.
And so, Mr. Minister, I congratulate you. I wish
you all the best as you undertake your new
important responsibilities for the Iraqi people.
FOREIGN MINISTER ZEBARI: Thank you very
much. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you.
QUESTION: Secretary Powell, have you
learned some new things after visiting with the
CPA this morning, and also with the Foreign
Minister, that you didn’t know before you came?
SECRETARY POWELL: I had very good briefings
this morning from Ambassador Bremer and his team,
and General Abizaid and General Sanchez and their
teams, on the military situation, pretty much
confirming what I knew. What I heard, though, a
lot of good things that are going on that really
don’t get out widely enough into the press, with
respect to how the electrical system is coming
back up, with respect to the plans to put in place
a vibrant, market-oriented economy, some of the
interesting ideas that will be announced in the
near future, with respect to economic development
and some of the exciting ideas that the Governing
Council has come up with, and the various Cabinet
Ministers have come up with, with respect to
economic development.
And so there’s a lot going on in the area of
political development, economic development. The
security situation remains challenging, but after
the briefings I had this morning, I’m confident
that our commanders understand the environment
that we’re operating in and that we’ll be able to
deal with it in due course. The major new threat
are the terrorists who are trying to infiltrate
into the country for the purpose of disrupting
this very hopeful process. And we will not allow
that to happen.
QUESTION: Mr. Foreign Minister, how soon do
you believe Iraq will be able to assume full
sovereignty? And, Mr. Secretary, you mentioned
foreigners coming into the country. >From where
and what numbers?
FOREIGN MINISTER ZEBARI: Yeah, in fact, we
are confident that the Iraqi people will regain
their independence and sovereignty as soon as
possible. We have a plan. We are working very
closely with the CPA. In fact, we see eye to eye
on how this plan should move forward. Now we have
a constitutional process working at the moment. We
have some plans, also, for doing voter
registrations for the election that will elect a
new Iraqi government.
Now, definitely, this depends on the logistics,
the security environment that we are in. But we
hope by mid-2004, or before the end of the year,
we will be able to have a sovereign Iraqi elected
legitimate government in place. And we have every
confidence that even the Coalition, the United
States, doesn’t want to stay one more day than
it’s needed. I mean, we believe in their words and
many of the Iraqis realize that this is the case.
QUESTION: Mr. Zebari, do you think….
SECRETARY POWELL: If I may, the borders are
rather porous and so people can get in from any of
the neighboring countries. The exact numbers
aren’t really known. And, the intelligence
community I would say could give the best
estimates, but from what I am able to understand
from the intelligence community, we are talking in
the hundreds to a thousand, two thousand, but it
is a very imprecise number. It is nothing more
than an estimate.
QUESTION: Mr. Zebari, does that mean that
you agree with Secretary Powell that the French
proposals are unrealistic?
FOREIGN MINISTER ZEBARI: No, in fact, we
want all the government members of the Security
Council to help us, to support us. And we share
the same goal and objective with everybody, and
that was the message we took to our brothers from
the Arab League - that we share the same goal that
the Iraqis should regain their independence and
sovereignty, as soon as possible. But this is a
transitional period and we need to see the new
Iraq stable, peaceful, prosperous, with a new
constitution. So, really, this is how we see it.
As far as the French proposals, Secretary Powell
briefed us on his discussions in Geneva recently.
Really there are a number of things that we need
to look at it more closely.
Thank you.
Secretary Powell: Thank you
NOTES:
Questioning Halabja : Genocide and the Expedient
Political Lie
An essay by Leo
Casey - Dissent Magazine Summer 2003
For those who have
studied the literature of Holocaust denial, the
parallels with the denial of Halabja and the
genocide of the Kurds are striking.
The essay tells the
story about the efforts to deny the Ba'athist
regime's use of poison gas on the Kurdish people,
efforts that began as soon as the world first
learned of Halabja and that have continued to this
day.
Edward Said, the
loquacious Palestinian-American academic has
promoted the Halabja denial. Writing in the London
Review of Books at the very moment of the Baathist
regime was launching its brutal suppression of the
post-Gulf War uprisings of the Kurds and Shiites,
Said declared that "[t]he claim that Iraq
gassed its own citizens has often been repeated.
At best, this is uncertain. There is at least one
War College report, done while Iraq was a U.S.
ally, which claims that the gassings of the Kurds
at Halabja was done by Iran. Few people mention
such reports in the media today." On
virtually any other question one could
contemplate, Said would dispute the conclusions of
the American intelligence and military apparatuses
in the strongest possible terms, yet when it comes
to the question of the use of poison gas on the
Kurds, discredited and transparently false CIA and
DIA claims become trustworthy.
