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An
Immoral War thrust upon Iraqi People - Ajoy Roy What
is wrong with Iraq and wherein lies Iraq's fault ? [ continued from Part III] In my previous posting I showed how Saddam's Iraq committed aggression against a sovereign country, a member of UNO, Iran. I may not agree with the political system of Iran or I might have genuine dispute with it, but that does not provide me right to commit aggression against that country.
* Iraq's Use of
Chemical Weapons (CW) during Iraq-Iran war and afterwards Saddam's worst crime-
genocide against Kurds Saddam Regime's worst crime was use of Chemical Weapons for mass destruction against his Iranian enemies during Iraq-Iran war, and after the war against its own national minorities the Kurds in the northern region. It is now convincingly proved that during Iraq-Iran war perhaps in the beginning of 1984, and certainly by 1986 Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons fairly in large scale in the battlefield against Iranian troops or even against Iranian people. The UN appointed investigation team in its report categorically said that they did find sufficient evidence of use of chemical warfare agents in the Iraq-Iran war. At least on three occasions i.e. in 1984, 1986 and 1987, the report said, the Iraqi government had used mustard gas and even a nerve agent, tabun. The Iraqi government even did not spare its people Kurds living in northern region adjacent to Iran on the assumption that these people were acting in favour of Iran. In late April 1987, twenty four villages of Iraq's Kurdistan were targeted by the chemical bombardment. According to an eyewitness Saber Ahmed Khoshmam, one of the inhabitants of the bombarded villages, later treated in a Tehran Hospital, Iraqi warplanes dropped no less than 18 chemical bombs at the villages Sheikh Dassan, Kani Bard, Pasian and Tuteman severely wounding hundreds of people. It is now known that chemical bombardment was carried out at least twice in twenty four villages within 48 hours. In those bombardments more than 130 innocent villagers were martyred and more than five hundred were wounded. Anfal
Campaign Whatever may be the original meaning the Arabic word Anfal has, the real meaning of this operation to the Iraqi military was to eliminate the Kurdish minorities from the soil of Iraq. The procedure adopted were (a) use large-scale chemical weapons against these people, (b) use of conventional terrorism, torture and repression leading to large-scale killings, (c) pushing out the population eastward to Iran and westward to Turkey using those tactics. Net result of the 8-year Iraq-Iran war and the post war follow up campaigns of Saddam against his political opponents, Shias and ethnic minorities like Kurds and others may be summarized as follows:
The objective of the campaign was ethnic cleansing of non-Arab Kurdish population from the soil of Iraq. Worst of all, apart from conventional methods the Saddam regime applied chemical warfare against these ethnic minorities in a large-scale massacre. The
Kurds
Let me very briefly introduce the Kurdish people to our general readers for the sake of completeness of the article. Kurds form 19 % of Iraqi population i.e. 3.1 million in absolute term, according to 1987 census. They are the largest non-Arab ethnic minorities racially belonging to Iranian branch of great Indo-Iranian Aryan stock as against Semitic stock of the majority Iraqis. In that sense Kurds are first cousins of Iranians, although religiously they are Sunnis and should have been nearer to Sunni Iraqis. If we look at the map of the northern region of Iraq its northern periphery looks like an arc of a big circle. This arc forms the boundary of northern Iraq with Eastern Turkey and touches the northwestern border of Syria and on the northwest it forms a line of demarcation with Iran into the region of the Zagros Mountains in Iran. In northern region of Iraq the Kurds are the overwhelming majority in As Sulaymaniyah, Irbil, and Dahuk provinces with considerable majority in the region of Kirkuk and Masul, two very rich oil producing regions. The population, though with lesser degree of concentration, extends up to as far south as Khanaqin. Iraqi Kurds although split into several tribal groups are part of a larger Kurdish people scattered over in a geographically contagious vast areas on both sides of the arc we talked about ? in eastern Turkey, northwestern part of Syria, and north east of Zagros Mountains in Iran. The population also extends into through northern Iran into erstwhile Soviet Azerbaijan. It has been estimated that the total population of Kurdish nationalities far exceed 16 million (1987). Kurds in Iraq are however very much politically active and by far advanced in every respect compared to Kurds living in other countries, although the largest number lives in Turkey, numbering between 3-10 millions. Kurdish Social and
Political Organizations: Traditionally Kurdish society has been organized on tribal basis. They used to live in highlands and mountain valleys. Although with the introduction of education and modernism the old tribal cohesion has been broken down, but even today, the tribes like the Hekki, the Sorchi, and Zibari maintain a powerful cohesion. This cohesive attachment also reflect in their political organizations. Once mainly nomadic or semi nomadic, Kurdish society was characterized by a combination of urban centres, villages, and pastoral since the Ottoman period. However records show that from the eighteenth century onward Kurds, at least those living in northern Iraq, were mainly peasants engaged in agriculture and arboriculture. By the 19th Century, more than 20% Kurds lived in historic Kurdistan such as Kirkuk, As Sulamaniyah, and Irbil. The migration to the cities, particularly the young educated intelligentsia, helped forming Kurdish nationalism. So northern Iraq became the cradle of modern and new concept of Kurdish nationalism. During sixties of twentieth century, the urbanization of Kurdish areas rapidly grew. There were large scale migration of Kurdish villagers from their traditional tribal abodes to the cities- this migration apart from the general trend of urban migration, a worldwide phenomenon of underdeveloped areas throughout the world in those time, was also prompted by increasing arm-conflicts between the Kurdish nationalists and the Baghdad authority, destruction of villages and land by widespread bombing coupled with of course natural disasters like severe droughts in the 1958-61 period. The severe fighting not only brought destruction of rural population and Kurdish natural resources, it hindered the progress of education, health, and other developments. As more and
modernization were taking place in the area of Kurdistan political
consciousness among the Kurdish people deepening. They organized
themselves in political lines in parallel to tribal units. The Kurdish
Democratic Party (KDP), perhaps the largest political party of the
Kurds, is largely composed of the Kurds of the most north and extreme
northeastern regions of Iraq; The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
is primarily an organization of the Kurds inhabiting around Kirkuk and
south to Khanaqin. These Kurdish elements however, unlike other Kurds,
are followers of Shia variety of Islam like Iranians and popularly
known as Faili Kurds; On the other hand the Iraqi Communist
Party (CPI) had significant number of Kurdish population living in far
northwestern region of Iraq around Sinjar.
If we browse through the history of these culturally enriched fine people, traditionally being dominated, oppressed and looked down by the Turk Ottoman imperialists, Mesopotamian Arabs and even by the Russians we see that in modern times too they have been locked in an unremittingly violent struggle with the Central authority in Baghdad since the founding of the Iraqi republic in 1958. In 1970 it appeared that under the leadership of Mullah Mustafa Barzani, also an important leader of KDP, the Kurds might actually carve out an independent Kurdish area in northern Iraq. But the out break of Iraq-Iran conflict during seventies made the things worse for the cause of Kurdish independence as the Shah of Iran had to withdraw his support from the fighting Kurds in Iraq because of the Algiers Accord signed between Tehran and Baghdad (1975). This new political development caused a breakaway in the KDP, then led by Masud Bazrani, son of Mulla Mustafa Bazrani. The KDP leadership then had chosen a path of go slow and came to some understanding with the Baghdad?s Arab authority. This annoyed a section of KDP and a breakaway faction that left the KDP in opposition to the accord formed a new political party the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) under Jalal Talbani. The PUK continued its armed struggle in guerrilla fashion against the Iraq?s central authority from 1975 to 1080, when yet another full scale war between Iraq and Iran broke out as the invading Army of Saddam?s Iraq entered the sensitive regions on both sides of Shatt al Arab in Iran. Needless to say the war of eighties opened up a good opportunity to the PUK and other Kurdish groups fighting for independent Kurdistan to intensify their fight against the Central government. In 1983, the KDP spearheaded an Iranian thrust into northern Iraq and later its cadres fanned out along the areas bordering Turkey where they established a string of bases. On the other hand the PUK fighters made their presence felt in the farther down to south around Kirkuk and As Sulamaniyah, despite ruthless attempts by the Baghdad authority to dislodge and disperse them. In brief we may say before the ceasefire of Iraq-Iran war (1980-88) most of the northern areas of Iraq, outside the major cities, were under the control of variant Kurdish guerrillas. It must also be admitted for the sake of truth softer elements of Kurdish population and many powerful tribes lent support to the central government throughout the war with the hope that after the war a true autonomous Kurdistan within Iraq would be established. It was also apprehended that if the Baath government led by Saddam survived it was almost certain to punish those Kurds who collaborated with the Iranians. And history saw how cruel and severity could be the nature of punishment. A worst crime of genocide was committed by the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his ruthless army. By any definition of nationalism Kurds in the northern Iraq and in contagious areas of Turkey, Syria, Iran and Azerbaijan constitute a nation. They occupy a contagious geographical area, they have rich tradition, history, culture and a developed language. These elements bind the Kurdish people as a nation. If we Bengalis can form ourselves a nation why not the Kurds? The historic enmity between the Kurds and the central Arab government of Iraq (and other neighboring countries? governments too) has contributed to the tenacious survival of Kurdish culture. The Kurds? most distinguishing characteristics and the one that binds them to one another is their language (as for us Bengali language). There are although several dialects, the attempts have been made successfully to develop a standard written form. The Kurdish language is not just a dialect of Persian (Farsi), as many Iranian Pundits still maintain. It is certainly not a variant of either Semitic or Turkic tongues. It is a distinct and separate language branching out from Indo-European family, though it might show some similarity with Persian as both sprang from the same stock ( Uriya or Asamese show with our Bengali lamguage). Come back to Anfal Campaign
With this brief introduction of Kurdish people and a bird?s eye view of their struggle for independent Kurdistan let me come back to anfal campaign aimed at for final solution of Kurdish problem, the line of thinking being same as pursued by Hitler an his Gestapo forces for reaching a final solution of Jewish problem in Germany. The parallelism is to close needing any elaboration. [ In another episode I would try to give a picture of British role in the Kurdish problem ] My friends, well conversant in Arabic language and the holy Koran explained to me that nearest English equivalent of the Arabic ward Anfal is ?Spoils?- also the name of the 8th sura of the holy book. My friends further said that Anfal is the plural of the ward nafal meaning favour, charity (or donation) and a special meaning attached to it is ganimat, war booty i.e. the wealth including salves and women, fall at the hand of the victorious Muslim-army in a war or jihad. Girish Chandra Sen, the first translator of Koran Shariff in Bengali, translated the ward Anfal as ?Lunthita Samgreepunja?, i.e. looted properties. Since the first ayat of the sura begins with ganimat the whole sura was given the name of Anfal. The first ayat says according to the translation of Girish Chandra in Bengali ?Tahara lunthita drabyajata bisaye tomake, he Mohammad, prasna kariaya thake; bala lunthita samagree sakal Iswarer o prerita purisher janya; anantar Iswarke bhoy kara o apanader prasparer madhye sadbhab sthapan kara, ebong yadi tomara biswasi haiya thakao, tabe Parameswarer o tahar prerita purusher anugata hao.? The corresponding English translation : They ask thee concerning [things taken as] spoils of war. Say: ?[Such] spoils are At the disposal of Allah and the Messenger: so fear Allah, and keep straight The relations between yourselves: Obey Allah and his Messenger, If ye do believe. As I have no knowledge either of the holy book or of Arabic language, I cannot vow about the truth of what I said. The readers conversant with Arabics may kindly check. But what I am interested in is that Iraqi Military gave a series of military operations the name ?anfal campaign? directed against Kurdish population in north Iraq on the plea that these people collaborated with the Iranians against the interest of Iraqis. The anfal campaign formally began on February 23, to September 6, 1988. The anfal campaign was in fact a continuity of military drive with more ferocity and cruelty against Kurds and could not be understood without reference to the final phase of the Iraq-Iran war of eighties. Towards the end of the war, as Iraqi government was cornered with the advance of Iranian army in the territory of Iraq, following increasing collaboration between Iran and Kurdish guerrillas the tyrannical Iraqi regime pursued on its genocidal anfal operations, killing about 200,000, and destroying 3000 Kurdish villages and hamlets. The inhabitants numbering over half a million, had been deported to a kind of concentration camps called new ?collective settlements? away from border or mountain areas, or to detention camps in south and west Iraq. Many fled to Iran. Many of these people have been displaced more than once since the operation anfal switched on. Let me give one or two examples of harrowing story of anfal operations in which chemical weapons had been used by the Iraqi military. What happened in Halabja ?
Halabja, a city with a population of seventy thousand, mostly peasants and cattle breeders, is located in As Sulamaniyah, a northern province in Kurdistan, about 260 km northeast from the city of Baghdad. It lies within 11 km from the nearest Iranian border in the east. Traditionally the city and its surrounding localities such as Khormal and Dojeyleh are strong holds of Kurdish guerilla forces constantly fighting against the central authority in Baghdad. Halabja is a city of green and fertile area covered with forest vegetation and surrounded by heights of Suran, Balamb, Shireh-roudi and Shaghan in the north, south and east. The lake of the dam Darbandikhan lies to the west of the city. The story of Halabja is not less tragic than Karbala. Date line was18th March, 1988, the day was Friday, Islamic holy day. The brutal massacre of the oppressed and innocent people of the city began before the sunrise. The inhabitants witnessed on the day that their city was bombarded twenty time or more by Iraqi air force planes with chemical and cluster bombs. In the afternoon the magnitude and scale of massacre unfolded. Corpses piled up over one another in the streets and alleys of the town. Children playing in front of their houses were simply martyred instantly from cyanide gas coming out of chemical bombs. Some children trying to reach their homes fell down at the threshold of the door of their houses and never rose again. A mother, who embraced her one-year-old baby, fell down two steps from her house and was martyred. Within a radius of 150 meter around the main street of the city at least fifty women and children met death as a result of bombing of chemical warfare. A father was sitting over the bodies of wife and ten of his children in his alley and was wailing that would touch even any cruel human being but not the Iraqi killers, as they were not human beings. Indeed they were machines of Saddam Hussein. In a Simorgh Van, the corpses of 20 women and children who had been prepared to leave the town but failed to do so as chemical bombs instantly killed them. The doors of most houses were left open and inside of each house, there were martyred and wounded people. In Halabja alone more than five thousand people were martyred and over seven thousand more people were wounded. Women and children were the immediate targets; out of the causalities seventy five percent constitute women and children. The other affected areas were Khormal, Dojaileh and their surroundings, which were frequently bombarded with chemical warfare, but the centre of catastrophe was Halabja. Saddam?s crime against humanity has no parallel in recent history if we keep aside the tragedy of Jewish people in Germany of Hitler. His crime committed in Halabja-chemical bombardment can never be compared to the tragedy of Sardasht. International laws against use
of Chemical warfare
In deploying weapons of mass destruction in the form of Chemical weapons Iraqi government of Saddam bypassed its own commitment not to deploy any chemical weapons against any people military or civil. Because, Iraq is a signatory (1931) of the Geneva Protocol, 1925 which prohibits the deployment of chemical and biological weapons in wars. It may be said that The regulations of Geneva Convention, 1972 requesting all countries to cease production and conservation of all kinds of chemical and biological weapons and to demolish them, and the UN 37/98 resolution emphasizing the necessity of observing the articles and contents of the 1925 Protocol and the 1972 Geneva Convention have also been accepted by the UN member countries including Iraq. The Iraqi government violated all these conventions, protocols and UN resolutions since late eighties during the Iraq ?Iraq and following it even after cease fire in 1988 by deploying chemical warfare in a large scale. What kind of Chemical gases used
in Iraqi bombs ?
The
Iraqi military and air force had used three kinds of chemicals- the
mustard, nerve and cyanides. It may be remembered that Nazi Gestapo
used cyanide gases in gas chambers of the concentration camps. These
three types of chemical gases had been used in Kurdistan including
areas of Halabja and its surroundings. Postmortem examinations of the
bodies of the victims of chemical bombing in those areas proved that
the suffocation of the most victims has been due to inhalation of
cyanide gas.
The
press and other media visited many affected places of horror resulting
from chemical bombardments by Iraqi air force. Here are some excerpts
:
�
A
report by the correspondent of London Daily, March 23, 1988) said , ?
.... The reported slaughter of 5,000 Kurds in Iraqi poison gas attacks
underlines a dangerous new dimension in the volatile middle east: the
growth of the chemical warfare capability of several important
regional powers, and the fear that, despite efforts to curb these
weapons, they could use more widely. ... There is evidence that Iraqis
did drop poison gas bombs on the town because the traditionally
rebellious Kurds, who have been fighting for autonomy from Baghdad for
years, welcomed the Iranian (troops).?
�
Different
French Television networks took pictures of the mass devastation of
chemical weapons aimed at Kurds of Halabja. The commentators described
these crimes as intolerable, disgusting and horrible. The first
channel of the French TV observed that it is not the first time that
Baghdad regime had deployed chemical weapons, however this is the
first time that Iraq, is so vastly deploying them against the
civilians.
�
Andrew
Gowers, middle east editor, and Richard Johns of London Daily writing
on 23rd March, 1988 : ? ... What has been happening in the
last year, especially the last week, in a remote corner of northeast
Iraq reveals unplumbed depths of savagery.... ?.
�
Dr.
Alastair, Senior lecturer of Pathology at Leeds University, England,
speaking on BBC Television and BBC Radio World service on 22nd
and 23rd March, 1988 had this to say : ?.. The Kurds have
claimed for a number of months, perhaps over a year, that Iraq has
been using chemical agents against them. But this latest occasion
seems to be the first really documented case that we have where
chemical agents have been used. ... Iraq has used chemical agents
against Iran on a very large scale for three years now. And although
the west and other countries have been condemnatory about that use,
the country (Iraq) still felt secure enough to use chemical agents.
They have used them because these agents are very effective against
and opposition that has no protection and until such time as there is
perhaps an end to war, or sufficient sanctions against Iraq to
persuade it not to use chemical agents. I am afraid they will continue
to use them or so it seems. ?
Birjinni Tragedy &
Scientific Findings
Birjinni
is another remote village of 30 houses, a mosque, and school, in
northern Kurdistan where Iraqi regime deployed Chemical weapons
against the Kurds. The villagers on all a sudden in the morning of 25th
August, 1988 found themselves pounded with chemical bombings. The
Iraqi warplanes dropped at least three clusters each with four bombs
mixed with chemical agents. The eyewitnesses remember seeing a plume
of black, and then yellowish smoke followed by a not-unpleasant odor
similar to fertilizer mixed with a smell of rotten garlic. Immediately
afterwards as soon as the escaping gases started diffusing in the air,
the villagers felt breathing trouble, their eyes watered, skin
blistered, and many vomited, and some died also. All these symptoms,
the physicians said later, were consistent with a poison gas attack.
The four bombs created 4 big craters, 700 m from each other.
At least four people were killed during the attack on the village, two in an orchard- one elderly (60), the other a young boy (5), and two brothers in a cave where they took refuge. Remaining villagers fled. Days later, Iraqi soldiers visited the village and buried the dead bodies found in the orchard.
According
to New York based Middle East Watch (MEW) group the Birjinni attack
was one of dozens of chemical weapons under the cover of Iraqi anfal
operations against the Kurds in 1988: ?these chemical weapons attacks
were part of a genocidal campaign carried out against Kurdish
civilians,? said Kenneth Anderson, director of the Arms Project of
Human Rights Watch and a member of the Boston based Physicians for
Human Rights (PHR)/MEW forensic team that visited Iraqi Kurdistan in
June 1992.
On 10th June, 1992, four years later, a forensic team from PHR/MEW comprised of Dr. Clyde Snow, a well known consultant in forensic anthropology to medical examiners? offices in the United States and professor of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma; James Briscoe, an archeologist with Roberts/Schomik & Associates, Inc., Norman, Oklahoma; Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team; Kenneth Anderson, a consultant to PHR and MEW; Isabel M. Reveco of the Chilean Forensic Anthropology Team; and Stefan Schmitt of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Team.. The visiting team examined the two buried bodies in the orchard and found no trace of physical trauma. They found bomb fragments within 4 craters created by bombing. The team collected the following specimens for scientific examination to obtain evidence for traces of chemicals used as weapons:
The samples sealed with description in plastic bags were taken to UK?s Chemical & Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE) at Porton Down, and never opened before scientific examination were conducted by scientists of CBDE at Porton Down. Analysis carried out at Porto Down by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry found that six soil samples taken from the first two craters contained mustard agents and /or thiodiglycol, a compound produced by the hydrolysis of mustard, 1,4 thioxane and 1, 4-dithiane, were also detected in these samples. They also found the presence of the compound tetryl, an explosive that, according to Dr. Alastair Hay, a consult and member of PHR team and Senior Lecture in Chemical Pathology, University of Leeds, U.K, is widely used in chemical munitions. The result of examination of other soil samples and pieces of metals carried out by analytical chemists at CBDE showed unequivocal presence of residues of methylphosphonic acid (MPA) and isopropyl methylphosphonic acid (iPMA). MPA is a product of the hydrolysis of any of several chemical weapons nerve agents. iMPA is a product of the hydrolysis of the nerve agent GB. However no traces of mustard or nerve agents or their breakdown products could be detected from the clothing samples collected from the gravesite. The analytical team at Porton Down observed: ?this is the first example to our knowledge, that a suspected use of nerve agent has been corroborated by the analysis of environmental residues. The analysis also demonstrated that traces of chemical weapons agents or their degradation products can still be detected in the environment over four years later provided that the samples are taken from a point of high initial contamination.? Commenting on the findings of CBDE analytical chemists Dr. Hay of Leeds University said, ? This discovery not only confirms the eyewitness accounts and medical examination of Kurdish people that nerve gas as well as mustard gas were used against them, but also has enormous implications for the effectiveness of the chemical weapons treaty. ? ? While inspection teams from the United Nations Special Commission have found both mustard and nerve agents stored in Iraq, as well as munitions containing them the samples from Birjinni show they were actually used, ? Dr. Hay further continued. So far, as said earlier, the Chemical Weapons Convention has been signed by 145 countries (Iraq included) and is now awaiting ratification before entering into force. For
the first time ever scientists have been able to prove the use of
chemical weapons through the analysis of environmental residues taken
years after such an attack occurred.
In my next episode I would try to show how Saddam regime unleashed its oppressive measures against Shias, the largest religious community in Iraq and regime?s political opponents other smaller minorities.Let me end my posting with a painful poem written on Halabja tragedy by an unknown Kurdish poet: On
the borders of Kurdistan
On the borders Where throats are Chocked with good-byes And eagerness is Suspended in the eyes And people asked When .. where are we ? why ? Here a child dies.. There a baby lies, and Another face-down cries: My wound is hurting My breath is hurting My stomach is hurting Mother : Am I to die ? And my white pigeon ?? Are we going to die ? In tears she said: There beyond the border posts.. Only days: we won?t die For us, God will try... Again the child cries: Will my pigeon die ? Mother: I love her.. She is my life Because I love, She does not deserve to die I love her.. All broke in tears Dear.. your pigeon died When the planes pried And she broke in tears My white pigeon was gassed ?! My Kurdish pigeon died Mother.. my hair is falling Why ? Am I to die ? Some water please W-a-t-e-r ...
An
Immoral War thrust upon Iraqi People Operation
against Shiite Moslems In my previous posting I very briefly depicted some horror stories of human tragedy in Kurdish villages as a result of use of chemical warfare on civilians by the regime. This is a crime committed against humanity and violation of international laws of warfare. In the present part I would like to deal with the Shias- how they have been treated by Saddam regime.
Let me very briefly trace the history of Shias in Iraq. Shias in Iraq In the religious spectrum of Iraqi population the followers of Shia variant of Islam constitute the majority (60 � 65 %) i.e. about 15 millions. Though there is no significant difference in the basic principles of Islam, the distinctive institution of Shia faith is the Imamate- a much more exalted position than the Sunni imam. In Shiah concept the Imam is not only a temporal leader, but a spiritual too. Imamate is a hereditary institution that nominates its successor in consultation with other twelve leading spiritual leaders (imams) each enjoying equal powers. The imamate must be capable of providing temporal leadership as well as spiritual guidance- called walayet in Shiah vocabulary, the ability to interpret the inner mysteries of the Koran and the sharia. A Shiah Muslim believes that Muhammad, founder of the last but greatest religion, Islam designated Hazrat Ali, his son in law and fourth Caliph, to be his successor as Imam, exercising both spiritual and temporal leadership. Ali was a great personality in the history of Islam and Arab, a man of learning, a heroic soldier of Islam, a life long close associate & co-fighter of Prophet Muhammad in all wars except one that Prophet fought against the infidels. Needless to say with his rare qualities Ali earned deep love and affection from the Prophet who chose him as his son in law to his beloved daughter, Fatema. Although Sunnis accepted the legitimacy of Ali�s assumption to fourth Caliphate, they reject the Shias� contention that the Prophet nominated Ali as his successor as Imam of the Islamic world. On the other hand Shia-belief maintains that the imamate began with Ali who had been wrongly and willfully bypassed and denied the Caliphate after the demise of Prophet. Shias believe that the imamate beginning with Ali continued through his two sons Hasan and Hussein, the hero of the Karbala tragedy uninterrupted until the twelfth Imam (874 AD), a boy of only five years only, who had disappeared from earth sometime in 939 AD. Shias still believe that the Imam�s disappearance was not associated with death, as the Sunnis claimed; rather the great occultation is a divine phenomenon, a wish of the God almighty. The phenomenon bears a close similarity with Jesus� disappearance after crucifixion. The Sunnis contented that the so-called twelfth Imam never existed or that he died while still a child. This divine occultation would last until God commands the Imam to manifest himself as the Mahdi or Messiah before the final Day of Judgment, according to Shia faith. Among Shias, the term imam is kept reserved only for Ali and his eleven descendents. Although a Shiah imam was supposed to give spiritual and temporal leadership, no Shiah Imam, except Ali ever ruled any Muslim State in the history of Islam. Their followers however believed that one day they would surely assume state power, the power that had been wrongly usurped. As this contention of the Shias were known to the Sunni Caliphs of Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties, the Shiah Imams were looked upon with suspicion and were persecuted during those periods. Therefore the imams tried to be as unobtrusive as possible and to live as far as was reasonable from the successive capitals of the Islamic empire. This historical tradition still continues even in modern Iraq. The Shias are or were never even nearer to state power even though they constitute more than sixty percent in Iraqi population. Only in 9th century during the Abbasid caliphate of Mamun (813-33), the 8th Shiah Imam, Reza enjoyed the confidence of Mamun and came very near to state power. The caliph invited him to his court at Marv, (in erstwhile Soviet union) from Medina. He nominated him as his successor to the caliphate. In the military campaign against his political rivalries to recapture Baghdad Mamun was joined by Imam Reza. But, Shias believed that he was poisoned to death as Imam�s popularity was on the increase overshadowing the Caliph. This act of suspected treachery on the part of Mamun tended to reinforce a feeling already prevalent among the Shias that the Sunni rulers were never trustworthy. This tradition of mutual distrust in the Shiah-Sunni relation still is prevalent. Although Shiah school of theology dates back to Imamate of Ali in mid seventh century the doctrines Imamate was not fully elaborated until the 10th century. Other rituals were developed still later. The main distinguishing feature of Shiah variant of Islam is the �continual exposition and reinterpretation of Islamic doctrines.� Another important Shia faith, as I see, concerns of divine justice and the individual�s responsibility for his acts, which are judged by a just God. This however contrasts with Sunni view that God�s creation of man allows minimal possibility for the exercise of free will. Another important Shia practice is taqiyah, dissimulation, which means hiding or disavowal of one�s religion or its practices to escape the danger of death from those opposed to the faith. this is termed as cowardly and irreligious by the Sunnis. However origin of Taqiya lies in the historical persecution of Shiah Imams during the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. And in this historical perspective the Shia-Sunni relation of present day Iraq must be looked into. As is Sunni school, the Shia school is also divided into several sects; most important one is known as Twelver or Ithna-Ashari sect, which predominates among world Shia community. They are considered as political quietists in contrast to another important sect known as Zaydis who are most political activists. The Ismailis, popularly known as Aga Khanis in the subcontinent, identified with esoteric and gnostic religious doctrines. Within Twelver there exists two major divisions, one known as Usuli and the other Akhbari. The dominant Usulis are more liberal in its outlook and allows greater use of interpretation (ijtihad) in reaching legal decisions, and the school considers that one must obey a mujtahid (learned interpreter of the law) as well as an Imam. Akhbaris constitute a very small sub-sect and are found around Basra, the second city of modern Iraq, southern Iraq and Khorramahahr in Iran. Shiah-Sunni Relation I have traced out very briefly the development of Shia-Sunni Relation historical perspective since the Shia variant Islam came into existence with the assumption of the office of the Caliphate by Ali, the first Imamate of Shia Islam. Iraq is the birth place of Shiaism wherein located all most all holy shrines of Imams including the tomb of Hazrat Ali in Najaf and that of his son Imam Hussein, who became the greatest martyr of Islam during a battle with troops of Yazid, the second monarch of Ummayad dynasty in Karbala, tombs of seventh and ninth Imams at Kazimayn, near Baghdad. A significant practice of Shia Islam is that of visiting these shrines both in Iraq and Iran. The historical strained relation continued even in modern Iraq, a monarchic modern State was created from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire in 1921 by the British. However, it must be said that the this rival strained relation is prevalent between the ruling minority Sunni class and the Shia Clergy on the one hand, and on the other hand, between the Sunni minority ruling elite and the educated and professional middle class of the Shias i.e. the Shia elite who aspire for power in a modern democratic set up of the state system. Dominating Sunni elite thinks that they are the traditional and natural rulers of Iraq. In contrast to this feeling of the Sunni elite, the Shia Clergy considers that they are the legal rulers of Iraq as they inherited the tradition of Shia imamate who had been deprived off the state power i.e. caliphate through the treachery of Sunni rulers. It must be admitted, however, that the relation between common Shias and common Sunnis is excellent throughout history. There were not many riots and conflicts between the two dominant religious communities. They have learnt from history how to coexist and live peacefully in a multiracial and multi-religious Iraqi society. But there is no denying of the fact that there exists a sense of deprivation among general Shia members and a feeling that being a majority of the Iraqi population they have been long eclipsed by Iraq�s more powerful Sunni Muslim minority. A similar feeling we, nationalist Bengalis in the then Pakistan had against the Punjabi dominated minority civil-military elite of West Pakistan. A dominant view, somewhat simplistic, of political analysts held that Iraq was and still is badly split along sectarian lines. The fact was that the Sunnis, although a minority, ran Iraq and subjected the Majority Shias to systematic discrimination. According to the prevailing belief, the Shias would drive the Sunnis from the power on the first opportunity. This notion has definitely some basis. For many years Arab Sunnis who tended to come from a restricted area around Baghdad, Mosul, and Ar Rutbah, the so-called Golden triangle, ruled Iraq by-and-large. On the surface it might appear true. Even as early as 1980s, not only was President Saddam, a Sunni, but he was the Vice President of the ruling Baath party (Arab Socialist Resurrection). One of the two deputy prime ministers and the defence minister were also Sunnis. In addition, Sunnis have usually held the top posts in the security services, and most of the army�s corps commanders have been Sunnis. It is also true that the most depressed region of the country is the south, where the bulk of the Shias reside. But the real problem is not the conflict between Shia vs. Sunni in religious lines or even social lines. Real problem is non-existent of true democratic system in Iraqi administration and political system. Question is not whether Shia clergy or the Sunni power elite or Shias as a religious sect or Sunni as religious sect would administer the state functionaries and govern Iraq. Real conflict is � between power holder of Sunni minority and the conservative Iraqi Shia Mullahs; �
between traditional Sunni minority elite and uprising
socially conscious, educated, believing in democratic system based on
pluralistic Iraqi society; �
between existing state power holder and the democratic
loving Iraqis irrespective of their religious faith, ethnic origin and
cultural background. Unfortunately the Iraqi Society failed to introduce a democratic system based on liberalism, secularism and pluralism needed in a modern state of multi-religious, multicultural and multiracial society as in Iraq. We cannot expect this from Arabian monarchism of Iraq nor from a military dictatorship of the subsequent Iraqi rulers or from a dictator of one party system as materialized by Saddam Hussein, again following the same tradition of Sunni minority elite rule under the cover of one party democratic institution. Baathist
Sunnis takes over Power in Iraq The Baath party, however, in the beginning started well with its declared policy of socialism and pluralism. However very soon, in the hands of a cotarie of power group centering around Saddam Hussein the Baath party became a symbol of oppression, extortion and terrorism against its own members and its own people who opposed or tend to oppose the ruling group or the state power. Its door was closed for ordinary citizens unless he belongs to the inner elite class. Multiparty system was banned in the Iraqi parliamentary system of democracy. No one could become a member of the Iraqi parliament unless he is a member of Baath party. Though Iraq was not a theocratic state as of Iran (Islamic Republic of Iran) or Pakistan (Islamic Republic of Pakistan) under Baath system of democracy, So it is neither the socialism nor liberal democracy based on pluralism that has been introduced by Saddam-regime in Iraq, the Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah meaning �Republic of Iraq�- a republic in which public has no role to play. It is simply an autocratic system of medieval period. How Saddam came to power ? In a bloody military coup (1958) in which King Faisal, his son and the Prime Minister Nuri al Sayeed were killed, a low ranking army officer captured Iraqi state power. Iraq was declared a republic scrapping Baghdad pact and became an active member of the nonaligned group. During this period Iraq under Kasem harbored a very good relation with Soviet Union to equip Iraqi military with modern weapons. In 1963, in another military Kasem was overthrown by another military officer colonel Abdul Al Salam. During his tenure the Baath party was organized and came into power. The slogan of the Baath party has been for Arab unity, Arab aspiration and Arab nationalism. No wonder, the party became very popular among the common mass irrespective of religious beliefs and ethnic differences. It may be recalled that the Baath party was born in Syria in 1943 and since its inception it spread into many Arab countries including Iraq. The Baath Party came into power in Syria in 1963. In theory the party was secular. The present regime in Baghdad came to power through a coup in 1968. A young officer named Saddam Hussein in Bath party intelligence department played a prominent role in the coup. The coup put Alma Hassan al Bakr as president who exercised only titular power until the time he was deposed by Saddam Hussein in 1979 to assume absolute power as president of the country. He consolidated his power through legal as well as illegal means over just more than a year. He waged a war against Iran, the Shia dominated non Arabic neighbouring country (1980-88) with the goals- � reclaiming Iraqi territory conceded in 1975 border negotiations; �
ending Iranian support to Kurdish independence movement; �
overthrowing fundamentalist and Islamic regime in
Tehran. He lamentably failed in all his missions except the gruesomeness of the war that followed. It must however be admitted that in spite of large scale discrimination against Shia majority and under represented in government posts, the Shias made substantial progress in almost all social fields including education, business and legal professions. During eighties, many Shias migrated from rural areas to cities, particularly in south, as a result of which cities like Basra and Baghdad acquired a significant Shia population. Many of these Shias continued to progress in the economic field i.e. in business & industry as well as in the service sector. In the rural areas too the educational level of Shias came to approximate that of their Sunni counterparts. In political arena before the Baath party came into power, Shias provided the bulk of leadership in the party, when the party was in opposition. Even as late as 1988, Shias had significant role to play in the party leadership. During those days, as for example among the top eight leaders who sat in Saddam�s Revolutionary Command Council, Iraq�s highest governing body, three were from Shia community, of whom one was minister of interior, three were Arab Sunnis, one was an Arab Christian, and one from Kurdish national minority. On the regional command councils usually Shias had the majority. Even during the Iraq-Iran war, a number of highly competent Shia officers have been promoted to corps commander. The general who repulsed the initial thrust from Iranian side in 1982 was a Shia. It must also be said in praise of the Shias in Iraq that in spite of the call by Iranian cleric government urging Shias for an Islamic revolution in Iraq overthrowing Saddam regime, Iraqi Shias stood behind Iraqi people. They never betrayed the cause of Iraq in spite of the fact they were not happy under Saddam-rule. To them Iraqi nationalism was more significant than the coreligionist feelings. The behaviour of Iraqi Shias during the war was excellent. Although about three quarters of the lower ranks of the army belong to Shia community, no general insurrection of Shias took place. Even when Iraqi regime faced a severe debacle of Al Faw in 1986, the Shia soldiers defended their nation and the Saddam government staunchly despite intense propaganda launched by the Iranian Mullahs calling on them to join the Islamic revolution. It is the feeling of nationalism that inspired Iraqi Shias to rally behind the Saddam autocratic regime not out of love for Sunni dictator. Shia attitude proved beyond doubt that country is above sectarianism or religion. Shias of Iraq look upon themselves as Arabs first, not Persians, who were the traditional enemies of the Persians. The Saddam regime knew the feeling of Arab nationalism on the part of the Iraqi Shias. The regime very skillfully exploited this sentiment i.e. age old enmity in its propaganda saying Iraq-Iran war as continuation of the ancient conflict between the Arab and Persian empires. Naturally, and not unexpectedly, the Shias expected from Saddam regime that after the war the Shias would emerge as full citizens with their hope and aspiration integrated in the Iraqi nationalism reflecting their due participation in state affairs, government and non government. But soon they were disillusioned. Baath party was cleaned of Shia dominance and influence. Even the Sunnis believing in true secularism were either removed or eliminated from the party. Soon the party and the government fell in the hands of a coterie of inner circle with Saddam in the spearhead. It is alleged that Saddam even killed his two son-in-laws to make his seat of power safe. The present inner power coterie of Saddam consists of his near relatives, close friends or men from his birthplace. Following persons are top eight of his inner circle: � Udey S. Hussein: 38 year old elder son of Saddam, commander of the Fedayeen militia forces drawing mainly from his own kith and kin and tribes. � Qusay S. Hussein, Saddam�s 36-year-old second son and heir apparent. He is in charge of the Saddam�s crack forces known as Special Republican Guard � Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri: 61-year-old general is a close friend and a right hand man of Saddam hailing from Tirkit, hometown of Saddam. He is the deputy chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) and the deputy chief of the armed forces. � Tariq Aziz (67) : A close friend and trusted man of Saddam, the only Christian in the Iraqi leadership who has been with Saddam since 1950. The deputy prime minister, also an important member of RCC, is one of the well-known faces of the regime in the West. � Taha Yassin Ramadan : The 65 year old vice president and commander of the popular army is known as Saddam Hussein�s enforcer. � Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al Tariki : Recently arrested by the coalition forces in Baghdad was the director of Intelligence and the General Security directorate head of the deposed regime holding key position. He is Saddam�s half brother. � Mohammad Hamza Zubeidi : The former head of the northern bureau of the ruling Baath party and a former prime minister. � Abed Hamoud al Tikrit : Saddam Hussein�s personal secretary. � Aziz Salih al Numan : The former governor of occupied Kuwait and commander of the popular army in Kuwait. He was also governor of Karbala in 1970s and of Najaf in 1980s. � Watban Ibrahim al Tikrit : Saddam�s another half brother; a former minister of intelligence. US forces have recently arrested him. � Ali Hasan Majid : Popularly known as Chemical Aly in the West for his alleged major involvement in a series of 1988 military operation that used chemical weapons killing thousands of Kurds in north Iraq. Chemical Aly, a cousin of Saddam, an important member of inner power elite of the regime is believed to have been killed during coalition bombing in Basra. All most all of them were involved in silencing dissident voices, eliminating or suppressing holders of different views inside or outside the party, mass executions and torture of Shias in south and Kurds in north Iraq. The of inner circle of Saddam clearly shows how the country was run � half of the dozen top leaders are Saddam Hussein�s family members- two sons, three half brothers and a cousin. And how much it contrasts with that of even as late as 1988, just before the ceasefire of Iraq-Iran war (1980-88). (See above). Crimes
against Shias by Saddam-regime Shias alleged that their unconditional support to Saddam regime during Iraq-Iran war was paid back by his ruthless atrocities, torture and repression of various kind directed against the Shia civilians. For this change in the spectrum of infrastructure of state power and Bath party organization from multi-metallic concept to monometallic concept one man was responsible- Saddam Hussein and his hunger for absolute power. Hussein, a Sunni Muslim in origin, who bases his power on family and clan loyalties as pictured above, did purge out the Shias from the ruling secular Baath party since 1988. It is alleged that he gradually excluded them from the bureaucracy and security service. Saddam�s elite crack armoured fighting forces- the Republican Guards are almost exclusively composed of Sunni officers and soldiers. Only in the poorly armed regular army is mostly manned with Shia infantry officered with Sunni army elite. The policy of Shia-purging from the party and the state machinery based on a false allegation that �we have always been accused of being pro �Iranian, that our allegiance is not toward Iraq but toward across the border.�, says Mowaffak al Rubaie, a Shia activist in London. Strongly denying this allegation, he contented that common Shias do not trust any efforts by Iran to portray itself as a protector of Shia interests, partly because of bitter experiences during the 1991 rebellion. Many Iraqi Shias blame both the US and Iran for failing to come to the aid of Iraqis revolting against the autocratic regime. Shia clergy, particularly their vocal organization �The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq� (SCIRI), claimed that crimes of the Saddam-regime are countless and endless. But keeping aside their rhetoric and exaggeration here are some glaring examples of Shia repression systematically carried out by Saddam regime: It all started as a measure of retaliation against the Shias who involved in 1991 armed revolt with a view to overthrowing dictatorial regime of Saddam. On papers it appears that as if in response of a call of USA President Bush (senior), who made this call at a time when American forces were ruthlessly driving out Iraqi occupation army from the soil of Kuwait in February 1991, urging the patriotic Iraqi people to revolt against the regime, the disgruntled Shias took up arms against the regime. President urged that there was another way for the bloodshed to stop : �That is for the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people to take matters into their own hands, to force, to force Saddam Hussein the director to step aside.....�. And many Shias heeded to that call. At the peak of the revolt that swept the country the regime almost lost control of 14 of the 18 provinces. Fighting even spread in the capital. But as the UN sponsored ceasefire was agreed upon, the US support to Shia revolt was withdrawn. �We buy some guns, but when he (Bush) felt that this is Islamic revolution, he told Saddam regime, use the aero plane�, alleged Abu Muhammad, a top Shia leader. Needless to say, fearing the chaos that could follow under pressure from Iraq�s neighbours, the USA came to a ceasefire that gave Saddam and his military opportunity to crush the rebellion by using air force. Here are few examples of retaliatory measure taken by the Iraqi military against the revolutionists. � According to a book Eastern Gate Ruins, written by a former director of Iraqi Intelligence Services, General Waqif al Samarae, the Iraqi military did use chemical weapons of light nature against the civilians of Najaf and Kerbala to crush the popular uprising of March 1991, which followed the defeat of Saddam in invading Kuwait. � Following the crushing elimination of the uprising, large number of people took shelter in the Marshes of the southern Iraq. The Saddam�s military used chemical weapons against these fugitives and the innocent native people, commonly known as Madans in order to crush the so-called bases of the rebels. This operation was carried out in 1993 rendering thousands and thousands homeless and changing the ecology and environment of the vast locality. � But even before the 1991 uprising, the regime carried on systematic repressive measures and torture against the Shias and other section of the population. As for example from 1980 to 1994 many political assassinations were carried out even in foreign countries that those include prominent opposition figures Haj Sahal Al Salman in UAE, Sami Mahdi and Nl�ma Mohammad in Pakistan, Sayed Al Hakim in Sudan, and Shaikh Talib Al Suhall in Lebanon in 1994. � The arrest, torture and finally execution of Shia cleric Agha Mohammad Baqir Al Sadr and his sister in 1980. � The arrest of 90 members of Al Hakim, a prominent Shia cleric and leader of SCIRI and execution of 16 members of the family in 1983 with an intention of pressurizing Al Hakim to give his rebellious activities against the regime. � Arrest and execution of tens of religious scholars and Islamic activist in 1979. � Arrest of thousands activists who rose up against the regime and killing of hundreds of them in the popular uprising of 1977 in which the SCIRI leader Al Hakim was sentenced to life imprisonment. � Killing of even Sunni Mollahs such as Aziz Al Badri, the imam of Dragh district mosque in Baghdad in 1969, Al Shaikh Nadhum Al Asi from Ubaid tribe in north Iraq, Al Shaikh Al Shahrazori, Al Shaikh Mohammad Shafiq Al Badri, Abdul Ghani Shindaia. � Execution of 21 Baath party leaders in 1979 in Iraq, the assassination of Hardan Al Tikriti former defence minister in Kuwait in 1973, and the former prime minister Abdul Razzaq Al Naef in London in 1978. These are just a few examples of Saddam regime�s atrocious activities against his opponents. But worst of all his military operation carried against small cultural minority known as Madan or Marsh Arabs crossed all limits of atrocities. Draining
of Marshlands: The environmental Crime of the Century A vast area located in southeast of Iraq, the great sprawling marshlands of old Mesopotamia straddling Iraq�s border with Iran. This marshland was known as Al-Hawizeh. From time immemorial the inhabitants of this water-land build a social, economical and cultural life of their own, a distinctive characteristic reflecting the ecology of the area. Even a decade back from now the distinctive culture existed, but now if one visits the area it would appear a barren, drained and dry country, their water-born culture and way of life simply evaporated away in thin dry air once moistened and wet with water. The inhabitants, still left behind, dream for the better days they once had � a reedy, blue-water paradise where they fished, hunted birds, and tended water buffalos and other animals lived on water. Now there are only a few hundreds of villagers, who are among the last of the Madans, the five thousand year old civilization that is better known as the Marsh Arabs. The watery area of more than 30,000 km-square evidently offered a safe sanctuary to the rebels where they could take shelter beyond the reach of regime�s tanks and helicopters has now been turned into an accessible but windswept desert. Their punishment for offering sanctuary to the rebellious guerillas had to be very severe, they had to be dispersed from their century old abodes with distinctive culture, history, tradition and flora and fauna. In the name of suppressing the uprising, the regime drained the entire marsh and turned it into a desert killing its ecology, environment and a 5000-year-old Madan civilization. Official version of the draining of Al Hawizeh say the government drained the marshes to get at Iraq�s rich reserves of oil; to reclaim huge tracts of land for agriculture; to bring in modern facilities to the area � schools, health services to Marsh peoples of half a million. But obviously the last claim sounds ridiculous, as there are not many Madan people to receive these facilities as the population was pushed out of the area in the process. This massive project of draining out the traditional wetland and its associated vulgar scheme have turned the locality a desert, decimated the population and destroyed a way of life that had lasted 5,000 years. The government engineers dried the marshes as early as 1990, and in their place dug long and straight canals for irrigation work. The international environmentalists and humanists were not convinced with the government arguments accusing Saddam of a violent and vengeful act. It is no wonder that UNO human rights monitor for Iraq accuses him of �the environmental crime against the country�. And the UN environment programme, in a damning report last year, noted how canal banks had been built up to prevent any water flow into the marshes and concluded that the intention was simply to drain marshland dry. And how derogatorily the indigenous were looked upon by the regime. The government media constantly making propaganda against indigenous population as impoverished, backward and immoral or even �ignorant thieves�. They were denounced for their viciousness, their dirty ways and their slatternly women. The Marsh Arabs are Shiite Muslims. This is all the more became a factor for suspicion in the eye of the government. The Madans got the full treatment at the hand of the government- their traditional homes destroyed and finally thee were decimated. The regime forgot that once these people fought for Saddam in his grinding war against Iran, but after the revolt the regime accused them of joining a �dirty foreign conspiracy�. The military personnel patrolling the area bluntly say �There are no marshes any more- its all been drained. The people are in the towns now- no, that doesn�t mean that they have a better life now.� A 57-year-old erstwhile inhabitant of marsh, now lives in a town, had this to say : �every age has its beauty and ours was the marshes. We lived in a world of water and fish. Now I yearn for those days. For 10 years the marshes have been dry. Our sweet water has gone�. Many humanitarian campaigners, me included, believe the marshes could be recovered and the Madan people allowed to rebuild their culture. �They have a unique way of life that is historic and we owe them every effort to bring the marshes back�, said Baroness Nicholson, a Liberal Democrat MEP. �What matters now is the will of the international community.� Brief summary The genocidal crimes and violation of human rights committed by Saddam regime may be summarized as follows. The repression and torture let loose by the Saddam government has been always comprehensive committed against all sections of Iraqi people- ethnic, religious, sectarian or cultural. For instance, Assyrians who are the native people of Iraq since the dawn of civilization and a tiny and peaceful Christian minorities have been subjected ethnic and religious cleansing although they never posed any threat to the ruling elite. Denominational persecution policy is another kind of genocide that the Iraqi regime has committed in central and southern Iraq. Discrimination and humiliation of Shiite Moslems through a series of articles published in the government newspapers following the 1991 uprising was a part of this crime, especially when it was declared that the Marshland residents are not Arabs or Iraqis and therefore the regime had the right to bomb their cities and destroy their homeland. The regime forgot that these people live in the area where the oldest civilizations evolved and where the old laws of Sumerians and Babylonians were written. In Iraq, human values & rights have been violated since 1968, when the Bath party assumed power under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, especially against the Shias, Kurds, and Turkmens. It is alleged that tens of thousands of Shias were rounded, deported and mass executed. Chemical weapons were used in 1988 against the Kurds. Draining of the Marshlands, destroying the ecology and environment, poisoning the waters and burning complete villages in the south are clear violations international laws and agreements. [To be continued] PS: In my next episode I would like to throw some light on the plight of other smaller minorities in Iraq.
An
Immoral War thrust upon Iraqi People What
is wrong with Iraq and wherein lies Iraq's fault ? Even
smaller minorities like Turkomans, Assyrians, Christians and
even obscure Yazidis, who never could form any danger or threat to the
regime could not escape the wrath from the Saddam regime.
Other
Minorities during Saddam's Iraq
Satellites now confirm it; the lands of the Marsh Arabs has all but gone. The marshes of Mesopotamia, the great historic wetlands of southern Iraq, which until recent years shattered a 5,000-year-old civilization and unique wild life, have been vanished, according to United Nations scientists. The result is a double disaster, ecological and humanitarian; not only has the world all but lost a unique freshwater ecosystem, the largest wetland in the Middle East, home to a host of specialized animals, birds, reptiles and fish; we have seen the virtual end of one of the world's most ancient civilizations, that of Madans, or Marsh Arabs, whose way of life has been documented since Sumerian times.? Smaller Minorities in Iraq The Turkomans: They numbering about 2 percent (~ 222,000 in 1986) of the Iraqi population are said to be settlers from Turkey. Ottoman imperialists had brought them in the area along the border between the Kurdish and Arab regions. They are village dwellers although, a good number of Turkomans live in the city of Irbil. The Turkomans, religiously most are followers of Sunni variant of Islam, speak a Turkish dialect preserving not only their old language but many of their tradition and culture too. Their old tribal organization however was lost. The early Turkomans were settled at the entrances of the valleys that gave access to the Kurdish areas. It is alleged that they were brought to repel tribal raids, especially of the Kurds. This historic pacification role has developed to strained relations with the Kurds. The Yazidis : Ethnically the Yazidis belong to Kurdish stock. However, they are distinct from normal Kurdish people as they follow a religion peculiar of their own, that evolved as a result of fusion of doctrines of three important religions, namely Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam and indigenous paganism. Concentrated in the Sinjar Mountains west of Mosul, they live in small and isolated groups following the indigenous cultivation and tending herds. Being religiopolitically, socially as well as geographically isolated the Yazidis tend to maintain a more closed community than other ethnic or religious minorities. Because of their heretical beliefs and practices, they have been, historically subject to persecution and humiliation. The Assyrians : The Assyrians, numbering about 133,000 only in 1986, constitute the third largest ethnic minority. Claiming to be descendants of ancient Mesopotamian peoples they live mainly in the major cities and in the rural areas of northeastern Iraq. Professionally as city dwellers they are businessmen and engaged in other professions befitting to city life, and as village dwellers they are farmer. Religiously they belong to Christianity attached to any of the ancient four churches, namely the Chaledean, Nestorian, Jacobite or Syrian orthodox, and Syrian catholic. The total Christian population constitutes almost 30% of Iraqi people, most whom are Assyrians. Repression
and discrimination against these small minorities too Although these small minorities practically do not possess, unlike Kurds or Marsh Arabs, any threat against the Saddam regime, they has been unduly discriminated and looked upon with concern & suspicion. As for example Christian minorities numbering about 655,000 are docile and usually not persecuted in the same manner as Kurds or Shias, but the discrimination is obvious, although Tariq Aziz, Saddam?s deputy Prime Minister is a Christian. Even he, as a member of the Revolutionary Command Council is accused of complicity in war crimes against Iran, Kuwait and his own people. Many Christians, however, fear many people will be angry with them and associate them with the US-UK coalition forces. This is just an illustration how minorities are looked upon with suspicion by their majority neighbors. As regards Assyrians, a small ancient ethnic minority of Christian faith, are also subject to discrimination and unnecessary persecution by the Iraqi government of Saddam. Dr. Munther Al Fadhal, Legal consultant of Middle East laws, Stockholm, Sweden, accused the Iraqi government of committing genocidal crime against this docile small community: ?. the Assyrians who are the indigenous people of Iraq and a tiny and peaceful Christian minority have been subjected to ethnic and religious cleansing although they are not forming any threat or danger to the Iraqi regime.? Turkomans, as said earlier because of their Turkish origin, always have been treated with despise and condemnation- as they profess their own language and culture. The Bath regime since its coming to power in 1968 have been committing violations of human rights, especially against the Shias, Kurds and Turkomans. Both Christian Assyrians and Moslem Turkomans hail from north Iran, an area of vast oil reserve in Iraq. This has become a fault in the eye of the regime. In order to control the oil, Saddam-regime has forced out many peoples from these communities to move so Arab loyalist groups to Saddam can be close to it. Is it not a crime against humanity ?
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