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RE: Halabja



I would like to join others in expressing gratitude to Glen for his posting
on Halabja. It is undeniable that the massacre of thousands of civilians in
that Kurdish town was not just a heinous crime but also an event of major
significance, not just for what happened there, but for what it represented.
In this sense, Halabja is an epitome, like My Lai or Deir Yassin. In this
case, however, the crime was not committed directly by the imperialists
themselves, but by their local ally and proxy.
Halabja is important not just for what it confirms about the character of
the Saddam regime, but also for what it reveals about his western sponsors.
The US and UK acted to cover up the Halabja atrocity, to protect Saddam from
UN censure, and - as the Scott enquiry revealed - the UK government sent
David Mellor to Baghdad to negotiate a major arms contract while the bodies
were still lying in the street.
Ghazwan asks ask "WHO IS WORST SH or the WEST?" We could rephrase this
question: "Who is worst, the sadistic henchman or the mafia boss?" This
exactly describes the essence of the relationship which existed (until they
fell out with each other) between SH and the imperialists in London and
Washington. We should not equivocate in stating that the governments of the
imperialist nations are qualitatively more evil than their hireling.
We need to know the truth about Halabja because the apologists for
imperialist war on Iraq constantly cite this atrocity as a justification for
their war crimes. I cannot think of ANYTHING more cynical and more
nauseating! They also bear culpability for this crime!! Evasion of the truth
is harmful to our cause; pretending that we are not sure who committed this
act is sure to damage our credibility and to let the US and UK war cri
minals off the hook.
Greetings to all,

John S



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