[Culturechat] In 1988, Iraq bombarded the Kurdish town of Halabja with poison gas

[WesTexas@aol.com]

Iraqi Kurd leader attacks French opposition to war

DUKAN, Iraq, Feb 15 (Reuters) - An Iraqi Kurd leader said on Saturday French 
opposition to a war to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ignored the wishes 
of the Iraqi people.

"France is not taking into account the Iraqi people's desires and the rights 
of the Iraqi people," Jalal Talabani, leader of half the breakaway Kurdish 
enclave in northern Iraq, told a news conference in the town of Dukan.

Talabani went on to accuse Germany -- which also opposes a U.S.-led strike on 
Baghdad -- of collaborating with Saddam's chemical weapons programmes in the 
past.  "Germany is afraid that after Saddam's collapse, documents will be 
discovered showing how they supported chemical weapons programmes and the 
Kurdish people will ask for compensation," the leader of the Patriotic Union 
of Kurdistan (PUK) said.

In March 1988, Iraq bombarded the Kurdish town of Halabja with poison gas, 
killing thousands of civilians.

Iraqi Kurds, like Iranians, who were also attacked with Iraqi mustard and 
nerve gas during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, accuse Western countries of 
arming Saddam with chemical and biological weapons in the past.