14 March 2003
Bush Meets with Victims of Saddam Hussein's Chemical Attacks
(Victims describe experiences during 1987, 1988 attacks against Kurds) (400) By Alicia K. Langley Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- President Bush met in the Oval Office March 14 for 20 minutes with three Iraqis affected by Saddam Hussein's chemical attacks in Iraq in the late 1980s. The three -- Idres Hawarry, Della Jaff and Katrin Michael, who now live in the United States -- said that although they did most of the talking during their visit to the Oval Office, Bush gave them hope by implying that the Iraqi people would soon be freed from tyranny. They told him about their personal experiences during Saddam Hussein's chemical attacks in northern Iraq in 1987 and 1988. Each said he or she lives with harrowing memories as a result of the chemical attacks that were launched against 40 Kurdish villages and thousands of innocent civilians. The worst of these attacks devastated the Iraqi city of Halabja on March 16, 1988. Michael said she was affected by cyanide and mustard gases that left her blind for three days. She received treatment but continues to have breathing difficulties. She told reporters after meeting with Bush that her message to Saddam Hussein is "not to use any chemical weapons against any people." Hawarry has family members who still live in Iraq. "I worry about them and I pray for them," he said. Jaff, a self-described activist living now in Reston, Virginia, said she would return to Iraq to help rebuild her country. She was not in Halabja during the chemical attacks, but when she heard about the destruction and massive death toll, she said she suffered psychologically. Five thousand civilians, many of them women, children, and the elderly, died within hours of the attack on Halabja. Ten thousand more were blinded, maimed, disfigured, or otherwise severely and irreversibly debilitated, while thousands more died of horrific complications, diseases, and birth defects in the years after, according to information collected by the U.S. State Department. That information shows that Saddam Hussein used Halabja as testing grounds to gauge the ability of his chemical agents to kill, maim and terrorize population centers. The State Department says Iraqi soldiers in protective gear returned to Halabja to study the effectiveness of their weapons and attacks, dividing the city into grids and determining the number and the location of the dead and the extent of injuries. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
