20 Years Ago Today… The Halabja Massacre

20 Years Ago Today… The Halabja Massacre: "

20 Years Ago Today… The Halabja Massacre: ‘There are those who believe it was wrong to remove Saddam Hussein.
I disagree.

Dedicated to the people of Halabja who on March 16th, 1988 suffered the worst chemical attack committed by the Iraqi regime. On that day, 5,000 innocent civilians, 75% of them women and children, immediately perished. This was not the only chemical attack ordered by Saddam, it was just the worst- Halabja.

Kurdish father Omar Khawar and his infant son, victims of Saddam Hussein’s poison gas attack on Halabja, Kurdistan (Iraq), March 16, 1988. (Halabja)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is participating in the ceremonies for the 20th anniversary of the Halabja massacre today. Al-Maliki will raise the curtain of a monument of martyr Omar Khawar. Khawar is a Kurdish man whose picture drawn as a man embracing his dead child killed by Halabj chemical gas attack in 1988, is known as the epitome of the massive human disaster- Aswat Aliraq.

Saddam Hussein authorized the use of the ’special weapons’ against the Kurds.

Bloody Friday-
The Halabja attack, said to have involved mustard gas, nerve agent and possibly cyanide, killed an estimated 5,000 of the town’s inhabitants. The attack on Halabja took place amidst the infamous al-Anfal campaign, in which Saddam brutally repressed yet another of the Kurdish revolts during the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam is also said to have used chemical weapons in attacking up to 24 villages in Kurdish areas in April 1987.

-To the people of Halabja- Our prayers.

Bridget Johnson asks today at Pajamas Media: ‘Dear Demonstrators: How About Protesting Real Genocide?’’

(Via avideditorla’s shared items in Google Reader.)

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(Via The Avid Editor's Insights.)