Washington, D.C. - From March 1987 to October 1988, dozens of towns and villages throughout Iraqi Kurdistan were attacked with chemical weapons, including mustard gas and nerve agents. The most catastrophic attacks took place from March 16 - 18, 1988, when the town of Halabja was bombarded with cocktails of agents that immediately killed up to five thousand people and injured tens of thousands of others. 

Fourteen years later, on the anniversary of the Halabja attack, the town’s inhabitants continue to suffer without any assistance from the international community. Given the now hyper focus on threats posed by weapons of mass destruction (WMD) since September 11 and the subsequent anthrax crisis, it is impossible to imagine why the international community continues to turn a blind eye towards the largest civilian population ever exposed to chemical and possibly biological weapons. 

Fourteen years after the attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan, a number of glaring questions persist. What weapons did the Iraqi regime use in the deadly cocktails that soaked Halabja and other towns and villages? Why isn?t the international community attempting to determine whether toxic agents persist in the environment? Why hasn?t the United Nations established an international tribunal to prosecute Saddam Hussein and his henchmen for genocide and crimes against humanity? 

The Iraqi regime is directly responsible for the horrors of Halabja. However, it must be remembered that scores of companies from countries including Germany, France, Great Britain, Switzerland, the United States and Russia readily provided Saddam with an ability to manufacture and deliver weapons of mass destruction used against the Kurds, the same weapons which threaten all of us today. 

Yet affixing blame for this tragedy fourteen years later is little consolation to survivors still suffering from long-term effects of the weapons. The legacy of the attacks remains visible today in high rates of cancers, birth defects, blindness, severe respiratory illness, recurrent skin burns and other major medical disorders. Because there is little or no existing knowledge about how to effectively treat men, women and children exposed to large quantities of combinations of agents, it is vital that treatment efforts be carefully monitored. It is further vital to learn what agents were used and whether they still pose a threat in the environment. Yet acquiring such knowledge requires a coordinated and sustained international effort. 

While support for such effort remains slow to develop, some significant progress has been made, including establishment of the Halabja Post-Graduate Medical Institute (HMI). This structure, funded by WKI with assistance from the US Department of State, private foundations and individuals, has provided an operational framework through which integrated treatment and research programs can be developed by doctors in Iraqi Kurdistan working together with international experts. Under the auspices of HMI, support for treatment efforts has been delivered to the Halabja community, and it is hoped that more support will be forthcoming as the work of HMI becomes better known. 

WKI remains committed to continue raising awareness about the long-term health effects of WMD attacks in Iraqi Kurdstan and will continue to raise support for integrated treatment and research efforts. We hope that the growing need in the US and elsewhere for knowledge to counteract the threats of WMD will provide additional incentives to support treatment and research programs in Iraqi Kurdistan. 

As long as Saddam Hussein remains in power, the threat of WMD will remain terrifying and real. By helping Kurdish doctors and communities develop treatment and research programs, we can help diminish this threat and benefit all humanity. What better way to honor those who died and those who continue to suffer as a result of attacks symbolized in remembrance of Halabja. 

Washington Kurdish Institute 
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