As Saddam's execution has been scheduled to
proceed within the month for killing nearly 150 Shiite Arabs, justice is about
to be denied to millions of Kurds who suffered from the brutal Arab dictator.
Among other crimes against humanity that Saddam and his Arab nationalist regime
committed in Southern Kurdistan was the killing of over 200,000 people, or
nearly 5 percent of the population, for no reason other than their origin. This
was part of a “final” solution that Saddam had devised for the Kurds using the
homicidal Arab/Islamic concept of Anfal as his foundation. Yet, Saddam's
execution within the month means that justice will not be served for the
genocide and the many other atrocities he committed against the Kurdish nation.
One of the few responsibilities that the largely ceremonial position of
the Kurdish president of Arab Iraq has is to sign off on executions. President
Talabani's office has indicated that they have to study the court's case to
determine whether Talabani's approval is required. It has been reported that
Talabani is against the death penalty. His wavering on the issue as it pertains
to Saddam is remarkable, possibly speaking to Talabani's primary interest in how
his stance will be viewed in the west. More importantly than this issue, what
Talabani needs to remember is Saddam's atrocities against Southern Kurdistan. He
should come out strongly against the hanging of Saddam, not as a protest against
the death penalty but as a strong message to Arab Iraq and the world that the
case of the Kurdish nation against the Arab dictator must be heard in its
entirety. In recent days, the trial against Saddam for the killing of Kurds
illuminated Turkey's cooperation with Saddam in the genocide. The trial against
Saddam must go forward, if nothing else, as a way to uncover more of the truth
on Saddam's collaborators in the region, who are now so willing to maintain the
foul fruits of Saddam's policy of Arabization. Few leaders of nations as those
of Kurdistan have been as apologetic and nation-deprecating. Is it not time to
abandon this self-defeating quality and put the interests of the Kurdish nation
above those of the Arab/Islamic oppressors? Indeed, it is time for Talabani to
exercise a measure of leadership for the sake of the children of the genocide.
