March 16 marks the 21st anniversary of the Saddam Hussein regime’s use of chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds, killing 5,000 in the Iraqi Kurdish town of Halabja. The episode should be a reminder of just how genocidal Saddam was, and how much more secure the world is without him. And, while Halabja has become an international symbol of Saddam’s brutality, it should not be forgotten that the town was only one of many attacked with chemical weapons during the Anfal campaign.
At the same time, the world should not forget that, less than a decade later, after Iraqi Kurdistan had freed itself from Saddam’s rule and secured itself under a U.S.-led “no-fly zone,” the two major Kurdish leaders fought a bloody and unnecessary civil war largely over who would get what revenue. While fighting ended in 1997, neither Jalal Talabani nor Masud Barzani have accounted for 3,000 Iraqi Kurds whom their security forces detained and ‘disappeared.’ Because of the nature of international diplomacy, Talabani and Barzani may not face justice for mass murder, but they should certainly give the families of the missing relief and the knowledge of where they might find their loved ones’ remains. Avoiding doing so makes a mockery of Halabja commemorations.