VOA常速英语2008年-Iraq Remembers Chemical Attacks on Kurds in Hal

By Daniel Schearf
Irbil
16 March 2008

Iraq has marked the 20th anniversary of Saddam Hussein's chemical bombing and gassing of Iraqi Kurds in the northeast city of Halabja. At least 5,000 Kurdish men, women, and children were killed in one day of bombings. Daniel Schearf reports for VOA from Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Iraq ordered traffic stopped for one minute of silence Sunday in honor of the victims of the Halabja attack.

Thousands were killed in 1988 when Iraqi forces bombed the city with mustard gas and nerve agents.

Saddam Hussein's government said the attack was needed to put down insurgents¹ hiding in the city during the bloody² Iran-Iraq war. But, evidence emerged that almost all the victims were civilians³, most of them women and children.

Iraqi national television broadcast live coverage⁴ Sunday of a ceremony in Halabja marking the atrocity⁵.

Community leaders spoke⁶ of the pain and suffering caused by the attack and the need to compensate⁷ victims still suffering from the effects of the poison gas.

The bombing of Halabja was part of a wider campaign of attacks on Iraqi Kurds known as Anfal.

Iraqi Kurdistan Deputy Prime Minister Omar Fatah spoke at the ceremony. He criticized the international community for staying silent at the time of the attack in order to keep their good relations with Saddam Hussein's government.

He says their silence gave the dictator government of Baghdad more power to continue the Anfal operations. He says Saddam's government killed 182,000 Kurds after the Halabja attacks and if the world had stopped them, perhaps the Anfal campaign would not have continued

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Kurds were displaced and deported⁸ during the Anfal campaign and 4,000 villages were destroyed.

Saneia Sallah, a 42-year-old Kurd who was forced from her village of Neow Showan in 1988, says some like her escaped, but most were arrested, including women, kids, and old men. She says her aunt with two young girls, her husband, her brother, and cousins were taken and have never been heard from again. She says the army and Kurdish militias⁹ with helicopters and tanks burned everything, even her baby as it was sleeping in its cradle.

Many Kurds are still suffering respiratory and vision problems from the effects of chemical bombs.

Residents of Halabja complain they have received little support from the government and in 2006 held large-scale demonstrations¹⁰ and set fire to a museum in the city.

Deputy Prime Minister Fatah says the government has pledged millions of dollars for new projects, including a $12 million hospital for treating chemical diseases and a research center on the biological effects of chemical weapons.

This weekend Baghdad announced it would spend $6 million for reconstruction¹¹ in Halabja and would file legal actions against companies who sold chemicals used in the attacks.

A court in The Hague in 2005 sentenced a Dutch trader to 15 years in prison for selling chemicals used in the attacks. The court also declared the Anfal and Halabja attacks an act of genocide.

Dr. Rebwar Fatah is chairman of the Anfal and Halabja Working Group, an organization of Kurdish professionals in Britain who are lobbying the European Union and United Nations to recognize the attacks as genocide.

"If you can bring these crimes on the surface," said Fatah. "I think that will bring not only stability for Kurdistan or for Iraq, I think it will help us as an international community to move forward. Without recognizing that, it will be very difficult for the wounds to heal."

The Iraqi government approved the execution this month of Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as Chemical Ali for his role in the gassing of Kurds.

But Iraq's prime minister and presidency¹² council are arguing over whether or not two other former Saddam officials should be executed with him.

Ali al-Dabbagh is spokesman for the Iraqi government.

"[Un]til we solve, [un]til the presidency council and the prime minister solve this different views, different legal views, Ali Hassan al-Majid is not going to be executed in the near future."

The U.S. military has custody¹³ of al-Majid and the two other former officials, military director Hussein Rashid Mohammed and former defense¹⁴ minister Sultan Hashim al-Taie. The military says it will turn them over to the Iraq's government after the Iraqi leaders come to an agreement.

1 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

2 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

3 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

4 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

5 atrocity   

n.残暴，暴行

参考例句：

• These people are guilty of acts of great atrocity.这些人犯有令人发指的暴行。
• I am shocked by the atrocity of this man's crimes.这个人行凶手段残忍狠毒使我震惊。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

8 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

10 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

11 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

12 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

13 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

14 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。