Background
The Government of Iraq carried out a genocidal campaign against the Kurds during 1988, near the end of the Iraq-Iran War.  It was conducted under the codename “Anfal.”  The Anfal was a campaign carried out in several stages primarily between February and September 1988 and was to be the Iraqi government’s permanent solution to the Kurdish problem.

Of all the atrocities committed against the Kurds during the Anfal, Halabja has come to symbolize the worst of the repression of the Iraqi Kurds. Halabja was a town of between 40-50,000 people located about 11 kilometers from the Iranian border. It became the target of conventional and chemical bomb attacks over three days in March of 1988.

During those three days, the town and the surrounding district were unmercifully attacked with bombs, artillery fire, and chemicals. The chemical weapons were the most destructive of life. The chemicals used included mustard gas and the nerve agents sarin, tabun, and VX. At least 5,000 people died immediately as a result of the chemical attack and it is estimated that up to 12,000 people in all died during the course of those three days.

The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds

-'Butcher of Kurds' faces judgment
-Kurds rejoice at Chemical Ali's capture, want him tried in Halabja

Christine Gosden, University of Liverpool, Professor of Medical Genetics
Topic: Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction.
3/27/2003: WASHINGTON, DC: 30 min.
Professor Gosden discusses the medical and health consequences of the use of Weapon of Mass Destruction by the Iraqi regime against the civilian population of Iraqi Kurdistan in Halabja and 200 other locations during the genocidal Anfal campaign directly ordered by Saddam Hussein.  Video Link

The Forgotten People (Canadian CBC Program on Kurds and chemical attacks on Halabja) Link to this website

15 March 2003
President Bush Remembers Halabja

Where is Halabja?
Halabja is a small town in the governorate of Sualimaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan.  It lies 250 km north-east of Baghdad and 11 kilometers from the Iranian border. 

What happened in Halabja?
On March 16th 1988, Iraqi jets bombed the town of Halabja with chemical weapons.  At least 5,000 people were killed and 7,000 severely injured.  Fourteen years on, thousands are still suffering the affects of the chemical weapons. 

The gases used included mustard gas, nerve agents sarin, tabun and VX.  This was the largest chemical attack on a civilian population ever. 

Pictures tell the story: Slide Show
(Pictures in this slide show may be disturbing)

Who was responsible?
Iraqi forces under the command of Ali Hassan Majid, infamously known as Ali Chemical by the Kurds, were responsible for this despicable act of inhumanity. 

Reference Material on Halabja:
Halabja: Symbol of Hussein's Inhumanity
Why I Went, What I Saw, by Christine Gosden, Liverpool University
Great Terror, by Jeffery Goldberg, The New Yorker, March 2002
Anfal Campaign by KRG
Testimony of Dr Christine Gosden, 1998 Congressional Hearings
Anfal Campaign Maps
Experiment in evil
Lessons from Halabja
Still Suffering From '88 Gas Attack
More info and pictures