Scotsman.com News - Top Stories - In Iraq, = Kurds fear another betrayal



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Thu 10 Oct=20 2002

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In Iraq, Kurds fear another=20 betrayal

Borzou Daragahi=20 In Barzan, Iraq

LIKE many = of the women=20 in this mountainous village of Iraqi Kurdistan, Qazal = Bashir=20 works the fields. The women herd the animals, build = the homes=20 and feed the children. They have no choice. Their men = are=20 gone, disappeared. Each night, Ms Bashir continues the = long=20 vigil for her husband, Omar Hassan, who was taken by = Saddam=20 Hussein=E2=80=99s soldiers 19 years ago and never seen = again.=20

"Until I=E2=80=99m at the edge of my grave = I=E2=80=99ll wait for him=20 to come home," says Ms Bashir. Her husband was rounded = up from=20 the camp where the family had been forcibly resettled, = taken=20 away just a year after the couple married, one night = after=20 they had their first and only child.

Her = tragedy was=20 caused in part by the United States, whose 1974 = decision to=20 pull the plug on an anti-Baghdad Kurdish insurrection = cleared=20 the way for the Iraqi government to exact revenge on = the=20 Kurds.

The Kurds have been brutalised by = Saddam for 30=20 years, and abused and manipulated by their powerful = Arab,=20 Persian and Turkish neighbours for centuries. As the = US=20 demands "regime change" in Iraq, the Kurds and their = suffering=20 are again in the spotlight.

But the families = here=20 wonder if their history of sorrow is coming to an end, = or=20 whether they are once again the pawns of the big = powers.=20

"Am I worried about being used and being left = high and=20 dry? Yes," says Barham Salih, prime minister of the = section of=20 northern Iraq controlled by Jalal Talabani=E2=80=99s = Patriotic Union=20 of Kurdistan. "But I=E2=80=99m hoping that = we=E2=80=99re talking about a new=20 reality. We have an overt commitment from the United = States to=20 bring about a democratic, pluralistic, regional = government in=20 Iraq."

Kurds have suffered the full brunt of = the=20 Baghdad regime=E2=80=99s violence. According to a = Human Rights Watch=20 report, at least 50,000 men died in just one of = Saddam=E2=80=99s=20 numerous campaigns against the Kurds throughout the = 1980s.=20 Kurdish officials in this autonomous section of Iraq,=20 protected by the US no-fly zone, count 180,000 missing = men in=20 the 1980s. Those numbers are palpable in towns like = Barzan,=20 where women outnumber men by as many as four to one.=20

Those numbers don=E2=80=99t include the = victims of Iraq=E2=80=99s=20 chemical bombardments at Halabja, the dusty former = resort town=20 where 5,000 people were gassed to death in 1988. =

Lack=20 of resources to help people recover from - and prepare = for -=20 chemical warfare adds to the cynicism about Western = intentions=20 in Iraq.

"Really, there is no preparation for = any=20 foreseeable chemical or biological incident," says = Fouad=20 Baban, a doctor who treats Halabja victims. =

"Many=20 people come to us," says Mala Nazif, who lost 35 = relatives in=20 Halabja and continues to suffer from skin problems. = "Nobody=20 addresses our problems. Our people are dying. We still = don=E2=80=99t=20 get any medicine. We are all treated like = we=E2=80=99re already dead=20 people."

Foreign powers played a role in each = of=20 Saddam=E2=80=99s assaults against the Kurds. In 1991, = his forces=20 shelled Kurdish cities and drove tens of thousands of = people=20 into the mountains to crush an uprising the US = initially=20 encouraged. His fears of Kurdish collaboration with = Iran in=20 the eight-year Iran-Iraq war fed his fury against them = in the=20 1980s.

In the 1970s, he exacted revenge on the = home=20 town of the guerrilla leader Massoud Barzani by = rounding up=20 residents and placing them in detention camps after = the US and=20 Iran cut the flow of arms.

Today, the women of = Barzan=20 wear black, shunning the bright purples and yellows of = traditional Kurdish costume, and as they tell their = stories,=20 children gather around the shaded courtyard and begin = to weep.=20

Ms Bashir, 36, vividly remembers the last time = she saw=20 her husband, early on a midsummer morning in 1983.=20 Walkie-talkies crackling, soldiers surrounded the = homes and=20 ordered the men out. "They said it was just for a = meeting, a=20 meeting in Baghdad, and that they would be back by = sundown,"=20 she said. " The men were gone in an hour."

The = years=20 that followed the loss of sons, husbands, and fathers = were a=20 nightmare. The women remained stuck in a camp, = surrounded day=20 and night by Saddam=E2=80=99s soldiers. They had to = find work, but=20 dared not leave their remaining children alone. Since = 1991,=20 when US fighter jets put northern Iraq off-limits to = Iraqi=20 forces, life has improved. The women moved back to = their=20 ancestral villages. The Kurdistan Democratic Party, = which=20 governs this section of northern Iraq, provides 300 = dinars=20 (about =C2=A320) a month for each missing head of = family.=20

Ms Bashir was only 14 when she married. Her = husband,=20 22, worked at a rug factory.

He awoke at 4am = to get=20 ready for work, and her mother would ask him to pick = up=20 groceries on the way home. Still groggy, he would take = out a=20 notebook and diligently jot down a list.

"If = the whole=20 world became heaven and jewels, it will still be a sad = world=20 for us," she said.

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