Ghosts of Halabja: Saddam Hussein and the Kurdish Genocide
This book is an extension of my previous research for Nowhere to Hide: Defeat of the Sovereign Immunity Defense for Crimes of Genocide & the Trails of Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein (Peter Lang Publishers, 2005). There, I chronicled the evolution of genocide over time from an accepted stratagem of warfare in antiquity to an international crime today, the erosion of sovereign immunity as a defense for leaders who commit genocide, and the prosecutions of Milosevic and Saddam as heads of state on charges of genocide. Milosevic has since died and Saddam has now been executed. Death allowed both men to escape completion of the genocide trials against them.
The unspeakable atrocities visited by Saddam specifically upon the Kurds of Iraq are explored here together with the trials of Saddam by the Iraqi High Tribunal—both the completed prosecution for the Dujail massacre against the Shi’ites and the incomplete one for the Anfal Campaigns against the Kurds. However, this work is more than a litigation history. It is also an exploration of the motivations behind and the depths of organized evil in the context of a single brutal despot at the helm of an artificially created multiethno/religious state lying atop massive oil wealth but situated in the most dangerous part of the world. Saddam’s background and the context of his rule explain much about his actions, but not all. He remained an unpredictable tyrant to the end of his reign...
Contents
Foreword by Ra’id Juhi al Saedi / ix
Preface / xi
Introduction: Saddam Hussein and the Prelude to Genocide / 1
Part One Genocide of the Kurds
1. Kurdistan (Introduction and Background on Region and People) / 11
2. The Anfal Campaigns / 20
3. The Gassing of Halabja / 33
Part Two The Two Gulf Wars
4. The 1991 Persian Gulf War / 43
5. Divided Loyalties (Internal Dissent within Kurdish Factions) / 48
6. The 2003 Iraq War / 52
Part Three Saddam on Trial
7. Creation of the Iraqi High Tribunal / 61
8. The Dujail Trial / 66
9. The Anfal Trial and Saddam’s Execution / 80
10. International Law—The Road Not Taken / 105
Conclusion / 121
Appendix A: Declassified U.S. Government Documents—Financial Backing for Iraq during Iran–Iraq War / 123
Appendix B: Declassified U.S. Government Documents—Knowledge and Reaction to Chemical Weapons Use during Iran–Iraq War / 127
Appendix C: Charging of Saddam Hussein (Anfal) / 145
Appendix D: Statute of the Iraqi High Tribunal / 147
Notes / 169
Bibliography / 175
Index / 179
Foreword
Ghosts of Halabja. This title refers to a very specific crime - the chemical gassing of a Kurdish village in northern Iraq in 1988 by the forces of Saddam Hussein. He was to be tried for this crime before the Iraqi High Tribunal, but that trial against him will never take place. Saddam was executed in 2006 for the massacre of 148 men and boys from the town of Dujail. The attack on Halabja occurred during the Anfal campaigns, which were a military operation carried out against the Kurds of Iraq from 1987 to 1988. Saddam’s execution occurred half-way through his trial for the Anfals.
I was the chief investigative judge for the Iraqi High Tribunal. As such, it was my office that indicted Saddam Hussein and his cohorts for the Dujail massacre and the Anfal campaigns. I spent many hours questioning Saddam and learned to avoid his manipulative personality in order to learn what he knew and what he was responsible for in connection with the crimes for which he was charged. I also spent many hours and days in the field at mass graves and with survivors of his atrocities. These trials represented a great turning point for justice in Iraq. For decades, the Iraqi people were terrorized by secretive courts linked directly to Saddam’s regime. The chance to finally hold Saddam and his government accountable for what they had done was too great an opportunity to squander by killing him. Bringing him to justice in the best way possible would help reestablish the basic concept of justice for Iraqis and show them that everyone, even the most powerful person, would be held accountable eventually.
It is unfortunate that Saddam Hussein was executed in the manner that was carried out and it is unfortunate that the Anfal trial against him could not be completed. This history of the Kurds under Saddam’s regime that Professor Kelly has written helps to tell the story that could not be adequately told in court. The Kurdish people are strong and very resilient. Their culture as a part of Iraqi culture is very rich and their heritage is one of which they should be proud. Saddam’s regime could hurt them, and he did so grievously. But he could not bury their indomitable spirit. The courage and faith of the Iraqis in a better future should give us all hope—for a better Iraq and a better world.
Ra’id Juhi al Saedi
Former Chief Investigative Judge—Iraqi High Tribunal
GHOSTS OF HALABJA
Saddam Hussein and the Kurdish Genocide
MICHAEL J. KELLY
Foreword by Ra’id Juhi al Saedi
PRAEGER SECURITY INTERNATIONAL
Westport, Connecticut / London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kelly, Michael J., 1968–
Ghosts of Halabja : Saddam Hussein and the Kurdish genocide / Michael J. Kelly; foreword by
Ra’id Juhi al Saedi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978–0–275–99210–1 (alk. paper)
1. Hussein, Saddam, 1937–2006—Trials, litigation, etc. 2. Trials (Crimes against
humanity)—Iraq—Baghdad. 3. Trials (Murder)—Iraq—Baghdad. 4. Iraq. Iraqi Higher Criminal
Court. 5. Anfal Campaign, Iraq, 1986–1989. 6. Halabjah (Iraq)—History—Bombardment, 1988.
I. Title.
KMJ41.H87K45 2008
345.567/ 470235—dc22 2008028215
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright 2008 by Michael J. Kelly
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2008028215
ISBN-13: 978–0–275–99210–1
First published in 2008
Praeger Security International, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.praeger.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
MICHAEL J. KELLY is Professor of Law at Creighton University School of Law. His 2005 book, Nowhere to Hide: Defeat of the Sovereign Immunity Defense for Crimes of Genocide, received the Book of the Year Award from the U.S. Chapter of L’Association International du Droit P´enal. He is a member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, a contributing editor to the online legal news site JURIST, and Chair of the National Security Law Section of the Association
of American Law Schools.
