CPTnet
16 September 2006
IRAQ: Trials and healing wounds
by Peggy Gish
Toward the beginning of the Saddam Hussein's second trial for genocide
against the Kurdish people, three different colored posters appeared on the
streets of Suleimaniya. On one, the face of a frightened Saddam Hussein
peered out behind jailhouse bars. The message on the poster asks, "What
punishment would begin to fit the crimes he committed?" Another showed
Saddam pointing a gun at a column of people, and bore the statement, "The
forced exodus of the Kurdish people is a violation of human rights." A
third read, "Humanity does not accept mass graves."
Kurds in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) area are intently watching
Saddam's second trial. Seared in their memories are the atrocities he
committed against their people. The Ba'ath Party forced Kurds from their
homes in the oil-rich areas around Kirkuk and replaced them with Arab
families beginning in the 1970s before Saddam came to power. But most of the
"genocide," referred to as the "the Anfal campaigns," took place during
1988, when an estimated 160,000 Kurds were shot, gassed, relocated, or
"disappeared."
Anfal survivors see this trial, in which 160 Anfal witnesses will give
evidence, as a victory. They hope it will bring world wide attention to the
magnitude of their suffering, but also serve as a warning to repressive
regimes that the world will no longer tolerate the inhuman and unjust
treatment of all peoples. And they expect this trial to be healing not only
for the Anfal survivors, but for all the Kurdish people.
With the trial have surfaced other controversies. The Kurdish people insist
that the trial be handled by non-Arabs. Kurdish officials say they will file
suits against foreign countries or individuals who had assisted the
Ba'athists in killing or abusing Kurds. The Kurdish people have also called
for the arrest of Kurds who had collaborated with the Iraqi Army to carry
out the Anfal campaign. And survivors have said that many of these
collaborators are currently holding positions in the KRG.
What does this mean? How far does this indictment of international
collaborators with the Anfal go? Does this mean sanctioning countries such
as the U.S., which sold Saddam the chemicals used in Halubja and other
Kurdish areas? Does it mean deposing officials in the KRG?
What is clear to me during my time in the Kurdish region, is that the wounds
are widespread, raw and deep. Seeing Saddam in a fearful state and facing
punishment seems to be satisfying and healing to Kurds. I wonder, however,
if it will really give them the depth of healing they long for.
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