16-03-2010
Rudaw - To commemorate and honor the victims of the Kurdish massacre during Saddam Hussein's reign of terror, the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance is displaying a photo and video exhibit of the chemical attacks on the Kurdistan.
The exhibit will open on March 16, bringing light and remembrance to the 1988 Halabja massacre perpetrated against the Kurdish people. It is being shown in conjunction with the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.
"Through remembrance of the victims of the Halabja attack, we are continuing the process of healing from decades of atrocities committed against the Kurdish people," said Qubad Talabani, KRG Representative to the U.S. "The Kurdish people are grateful to the Simon Wiesenthal Center for providing a place for remembrance and for helping us raise awareness."
The exhibit opening will take place on the 22nd anniversary of the attack, which commenced March 16, 1988, at the end of the Iran-Iraq War, when Iraqi government forces used chemical weapons on the Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan. More than 5,000 civilians, including women and children, died in the attack -- one of several chemical attacks against the Kurdish people. Halabja remains the largest chemical weapons attack directed against a civilian-populated area in history. In January 2010, Ali Hassan al Majid, or "Chemical Ali", was executed based on being found guilty of orchestrating the atrocities against the Kurdish people.
Originally designed for display at the United Nations in New York, the mobile Halabja exhibit will be at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance from the March 16 to March 29, 2010.
