Don Bacon: “36 years ago this week, Saddam Hussein unleashed a nightmare upon the peaceful Kurdish town of Halabja, forever etching…”

“36 years ago this week, Saddam Hussein unleashed a nightmare upon the peaceful Kurdish town of Halabja, forever etching it into the annals of crimes against humanity. The atrocity perpetrated against the genocidal Anfal campaign stands as a stark reminder of the depths of cruelty that humanity is capable of. The horrors inflicted upon the people of Halabja on that fateful day, as they were mercilessly attacked with mustard gas and nerve agents, resulted in the instantaneous loss of thousands of innocent lives. Yet, the true extent of the devastation did not end there. For many survivors, the aftermath of the chemical onslaught continues to plague them, manifesting in debilitating health conditions, staggering rates of cancer, and haunting birth defects. The scars of Halabja run deep, both physically and emotionally, reverberating through the generations as a painful testament to the brutality of war. But Halabja was not an isolated incident. It was but one chapter in the harrowing saga of the Anfal campaign. Over the course of 2 years, more than 180,000 civilians perished, their villages razed to the ground, and their way of life shattered beyond recognition. The landscape of Kurdistan bears the indelible scars of this campaign of terror, a stark reminder of the price paid for silence in the face of evil. As we gather today 36 years later to commemorate the victims of Halabja and the Anfal campaign, we must do more than mourn the loss.…”