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Iraq wants Japan's help with 'Hiroshima of the Kurds' By Shinichi Yanagida Aug. 1, 2003 One of the areas that Japan can be most helpful to war-torn Iraq is in the medical field, according to Kurdish leaders here on a recent visit, recommending aid be directed to a region known as the "Hiroshima of the Kurds," after Saddam Hussein's army unleashing of chemical weapons there. What they were referring to during a press conference in Tokyo on July 29 was the tragedy of Halabja, where Saddam's army allegedly used chemical weapons to kill thousands in 1988. Mohammed Koshnaw, health minister for the Kurdish autonomous government, said that in addition to Halabja, about "180 other locations" in the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq were subjected to such attacks. Japan's help there is wanted desperately because they are short of medical supplies and institutions to help treat victims. "The Japanese people have the past experience of Hiroshima and have information on how to deal with victims (of weapons of mass destruction)," Koshnaw said. On the same day, the need for medical aid in Iraq was voiced in another part of Japan. Physician Jawad Kadhim Al-Ali said in Nagoya, central Japan, that when the U.S. military used depleted uranium weapons in southern Iraq during the Gulf War, Iraqi people suffered physical damage similar to that suffered by Hiroshima citizens in 1945. Stressing the need for help from experts in genetic medicine for Kurdish victims of chemical weapons, Koshnaw and other delegation members visited Hiroshima on July 31 and met with those who took care of atomic bomb victims. When asked by the Mainichi Daily News about the most desperate needs, Fawzi Hariri, a spokesman of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, echoed Koshnaw's view. ... .. http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/politics/0308/01iraq.html _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk