2003-09-16

Secy. Powell Visit To Halabja Brings Back Old Issues

Stage-managed tears does not convince anyone.

What do you do if you can’t find weapons of mass destruction? You visit a site where weapons of mass destruction were previously used! Well, this seems to be the latest brain wave of the Bush administration as they sent Secretary of State Colin Powell to the town of Halabja where 5000 Kurdish people were gassed to death by Saddam forces in the 80s. The event is fully of ironies.

The man chosen for sympathizing with the survivors of the attack, why Colin Powell? This was the guy who helped cover up the My Lai massacre in Vietnam that left over 500 men, woman, and children dead. In his memoirs, Powell mentions

If a helo spotted a peasant in black pajamas who looked remotely suspicious, a possible MAM (military age male), the pilot would circle and fire in front of him.. If he moved, his movement was judged evidence of hostile intent, and the next burst was not in front, but at him.

Strangely, many people thought he was a dove and would not support the war against Iraq, but he proved to be a sly bastard himself. Also read Questions For Colin Powell.

The Bell “Huey” helicopters that were used in the attack in Halabja were American-made and were provided to Saddam after intense lobbying by people like Donald Rumsfeld, George Shultz, etc., despite opposition from the American Congress. According to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, in a December 15, 1986 article, the CIA began to secretly supply Iraq with intelligence in 1984 that was used to “calibrate” mustard gas attacks on Iranian troops. Sam Gejdenson, chairperson of a Congressional subcommittee investigating US exports to Iraq, disclosed that from 1985 until 1990

the US government approved 771 licenses [only 39 were rejected] for the export to Iraq of $1.5 billion worth of biological agents and high-tech equipment with military application …

A 1994 US Senate report revealed that US companies were licenced by the commerce department to export a “witch’s brew” of biological and chemical materials, including bacillus anthracis (which causes anthrax) and clostridium botulinum (the source of botulism). The American Type Culture Collection made 70 shipments of the anthrax bug and other pathogenic agents. The report also noted that US exports to Iraq included the precursors to chemical warfare agents, plans for chemical and biological warfare facilities and chemical warhead filling equipment. German firms even sold Iraq entire factories capable of mass-producing poison gas. Much of this was purchased with funds freed by the US Agriculture Department’s Commodity Credit Corporation.

In March 1984, the UN released a report that said that bis-(2-chlorethyl)-sulfide, also known as mustard gas, and ethyl N, N-dimethylphosphoroamidocyanidate, a nerve agent known as Tabun were used against Iran. On the same day, as revealed by the American Gulf War Veterans Association, Donald Rumsfeld was in Baghdad and the New York Times in its report said that

American diplomats pronounce themselves satisfied with relations between Iraq and the United States, and suggest that normal diplomatic ties have been restored in all but name.

There are no indications that Secy. Powell is going to Iran to do some sympathizing there. After the attack on Halabja, U.S. Sen. Claiborne Pell got the American Senate unanimously pass the Prevention of Genocide Act, which would end U.S. subsidies, U.S. purchases of Iraqi oil and ban the export to Iraq of technology that would help advance its weapons programs. The White House made sure the Act would not be put to use. An internal memo circulated by State Department said

Human rights and chemical weapons use aside, in many respects our political and economic interests run parallel with those of Iraq.

Just four months after the Halabja attack, Washington said that it stood by Iraq, as the US giant Bechtel corporation (where George Schultz works now) won a contract to build a huge petrochemical plant that would give the Hussein regime the capacity to generate chemical weapons.