Chemical Ali’s Bomb Victims Recall Attack
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
HALABJA, Iraq – Monster, murderer, and psychopath. Those are some of the descriptions the Kurds of Halabja have for Ali Majid al-Tikriti.
In March 1988, Majid ordered the bombing of their town with sarin and VX nerve gases, as part of the al-Anfal campaign against a Kurdish rebellion.
More than 5,000 people died, many of them women and children, in an attack that came to symbolize the brutality of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
On Saturday, Majid – who also earned the murderous nickname “Chemical Ali” – finally appeared in court on charges of crimes against humanity. Majid was questioned for several hours by a prosecuting judge in a preliminary sitting of Iraq’s special tribunal, which will also try Saddam and other leading members of the former regime. A trial date has yet to be set.
But for the people of Halabja, Majid’s court appearance offered little solace in a town still struggling to come to terms with its past.
“He should be tried in Halabja.
“He must be made to see the evil he caused,” said Arras Azad Akram, head of the Association for Fighting Against Chemical Weapons, who lost his entire family in the attack.
Bamo Namik, another survivor, said: “I want him put in a concrete bunker and bombed with chemical weapons. Only then will we have justice.”
Such anger is typical in Halabja. Almost 17 years after the attack, large areas of the town are still in ruins.
According to the town’s mayor, Jamil Rahman Mohammed, reconstruction began in earnest only after the American-led invasion, and that has been piecemeal.
“We’ve built houses, schools, and a courthouse. It has given the people hope, but there are still many problems,” he said. Halabja has the highest rates of lung diseases, infertility, and cancer in the region.
“People are still dying every day as a result of the attacks,” said Hardewan Ahmed, who is leading a research team looking into the long-term effects. “It seems likely that nerve agents contaminated the ground and water supply. It may take decades to restore the land.”
For the bereaved, there are also deep psychological problems that the trial is unlikely to assuage.
