Kurdistan Observer- Ali Ezzatyar- Mar 27, 2002

A response to the articles on Polyconomics.com by Jude Wanniski, claiming that Saddaam Hussein never used lethal chemical force against the Kurds in Iraq.

Mr. Wanniski,

I was mystified and rather stunned to find your memos regarding the chemical 
attacks on the Kurds in Iraq, particularly because I feel you have missed the 
big picture regarding this and subsequent tragic events involving the Kurdish 
people. 

It is vital to note that some of your logic is quite fuzzy when you make the plea to Mr. Cheney to reconsider his facts (that Saddaam gassed his own people), and I will elaborate on this shortly. First of all, the imperative issue to remember is, whether or not Iraq was responsible for using a particular gas substance in Halabja, they were certainly responsible for the Al-Anfal campaign that killed upwards of 180,000 Kurdish men, women, and children. To beseech the President and his Vice to please re-check their facts would not amend the overall sentiment that Saddaam killed his own people--- I truly do not understand your apparent obsession with this issue (considering your extensive lobbying campaign). You are apparently working to de-emphasize the atrocities that were perpetrated against the Kurds in Iraq by virtue of almost insignificant specifics, like who gassed the Kurds in Halabja. The truth be told, thousands of Kurds were killed in Halabja in Iraq by Iraq (irrespective of Iran's hand) and thousands more in other parts of Iraq by Iraq. You make use of the argument that if indeed Saddaam's Iraq had perpetrated such acts, than why would Barzani and Talibani continue to maintain relations with Iraq? I find it astonishing that you didn't bother to ask these leaders whom you make accusations for, whom they believe was responsible in Halabja and in the Al-Anfal campaign: The answer is Iraq and Saddaam. The PUK and the KDP maintain relations with Iraq because they are playing a tricky game of real-politik where the choice is to make friends with your enemy or to risk death by his hands, a lesson that has been learnt quite well by the Kurds in their horrific past. Your assertion that the Kurds "enjoy good relations with Iraq" is so utterly absurd it is offensive to this Kurd. You have absolutely no conception of the Kurdish psychology; you are purely misinformed. To use your analogical reasoning would suggest that Turkey never committed atrocities against the Kurds either. Perhaps because the PUK and KDP maintain relations with Turkey, they are in reality NOT performing genocide and ethnic cleansing on their Kurdish minority. Your logic fails miserably.

Another position of perplexity is your apparent knowledge of what weaponry 
Iraq was capable of using at the time of the Halabja massacres in 1988. I 
must ask, the same way you feel you must ask Mr. Goldberg and countless other journalists about their accusations against Iraq, how do you know what 
atrocities Iraq was capable of in 1988? Would you like to provide documentation? In the "Genocide in Iraq" text by Human Rights watch, they 
provide information from numerous documents detailing the massacre of 
hundreds of thousands of Kurds in Iraq. These are government sources captured after the creation of the no-fly zone. You are apparently using the testimony of an obviously biased Shi'i Muslim from Iraq as a counter-source for your claims, and this is alarming. You also badger a journalist because she said that "Saddaam gassed 100,000" or so of his citizens. I must ask again, does it matter if he gassed them, executed them, raped them then shot them, etc.? Does the end result not continue to be misery? This "missing of the big point" has run rampant today amongst "educated circles" and think tanks that 
purport to shed light on important issues that are plaguing the worlds 
disenfranchised. Why is a suicide bombing more horrific than a helicopter 
gunship's missile? Why are we so worried about Arafat receiving weapons from Iran if Israel is receiving weapons (that make the PA's arsenal look like 
slingshots) from the number one exporter of weapons of mass destruction... 
the US? I ask that you place your agenda aside whatever it may be in regards 
to your quest to prove that Saddaam did not gas his own people. The logical 
conclusion I have reached is that you are not in fact trying to clarify Saddaam's role with chemical weapons in Halabja, but that you are rather looking to de-emphasize the notion that Kurds have suffered in Iraq. I reach this conclusion because it is the only justification I can fathom for your dwelling on such petty issues when the big picture remains the same. Make a trip to Iraqi Kurdistan and ask a mother who lost her baby due to miscarriage (caused by Saddaams chemical contamination of Halabja) if she is at all interested in what you have to say. Would it not be more prudent to dedicate your time to ensuring that nothing of this sort will occur in the near future as the US again charges into Iraq? 

Ali Ezzatyar
Student of Political Science, UC Berkeley