[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3354-3355]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          HALABJA ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, briefly, I wish to speak to another issue, 
an issue that relates to an anniversary that will occur on March 16. On 
March 16, 18 years ago, Saddam Hussein launched one of the most brutal 
and indiscriminate attacks against his own people. On that day, a group 
of eight Iraqi aircraft began dropping chemical munitions on the town 
of Halabja in northern Iraq. According to Kurdish commanders on the 
scene, the planes made multiple passes before their gruesome task was 
complete.
  The planes would drop chemical munitions, including mustard agent and 
nerve gas, for 45 minutes. After they had gone, another group would 
come 15 minutes later to continue the assault with drop after drop 
after drop. They concentrated their attack on the city and the roads 
leading out to safety.
  I had the opportunity to visit with a number of the Kurdish 
physicians about 2 years ago who described in detail to me what they 
saw and what they treated following these gruesome attacks. Many of the 
victims were drenched in liquid mustard gas, as well as these nerve 
agents, and others were breathing this toxic vapor. The physicians 
described to me the fact that this mustard gas and the nerve agents 
were segmented in parts of little hotels, where one week one wing would 
get a mustard gas, another a nerve agent, in order that the Saddam 
Hussein people would see which of these would be the most deadly, which 
would cause the most suffering.
  After the onslaught, Saddam sent soldiers in their protective gear to 
study the impact in these wings of these hotels and throughout these 
communities. They wanted to see how effective and which agent would be 
most effective to be used in the future. The soldiers actually divided 
the city into grids, determining the number and location of the dead 
and the extent of injuries inflicted on this defenseless population. 
More than 5,000 people were killed and another 10,000 were injured.
  To see the images of the heaps of lifeless bodies and mothers still 
clutching their babies is to see a waking nightmare.
  Eighteen years later, the people of Halabja are still suffering the 
effects. Physicians describe to me cancer and birth defects, stillborns 
and miscarriages. For the people of Halabja, the nightmare is still not 
over.
  Nor did Saddam Hussein limit his use of weapons of mass destruction 
to just Halabja. He used these weapons of mass destruction to destroy 
scores of Kurdish towns and villages. These gruesome attacks were a 
part of a year-long campaign which resulted in the deaths and 
disappearances of more than 182,000 Iraqi Kurds.
  These attacks bear on me heavily, as a Senator from Tennessee, 
because many of the Kurds migrated to Tennessee, especially the middle 
Tennessee area. Many live in Nashville. In fact, the other day as I was 
going through the airport, 20 or 30 of the Kurdish people came up to 
express to me their appreciation to the United States in receiving them 
and in Tennessee, in particular, for receiving them so well, so they 
could live lives that could move toward freedom and prosperity. Some of 
the people I now represent have friends and family who suffered at the 
hands of Saddam Hussein. He killed them. He tortured them. He oppressed 
the Iraqi Kurds for decades.
  During the 1990s, the United States helped Iraq's Kurds achieve some 
degree of autonomy. Last year, we helped them achieve the right to vote 
for a Constitution and for a new Iraqi Government. The Kurds of 
northern Iraq knew for years what many Americans

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have been very slow to realize. Saddam and his chemical weapons were a 
threat not only to the Iraqi people but to the region, to our friends 
and our allies.
  Saddam Hussein and his cohorts are now behind bars and standing trial 
for their crimes. Unlike the victims of his regime, they are being 
afforded the opportunity to defend themselves. The Iraqi people are 
committed to seeing justice done, they are bravely building a new order 
based on the rule of law and freedom. It has been a difficult journey, 
but they are working hard to reconcile their political differences and 
establish a government of national unity.
  2005 was a year of progress. The Iraqis held three national 
elections. They approved a permanent Constitution. And thousands of 
young Iraqi citizens exhibited tremendous courage by joining the Iraqi 
security forces. They accomplished all of this in the face of vicious 
terrorist violence. The attack on the Golden Mosque in Samarra a few 
weeks ago was another cruel and craven attempt to ignite a civil war.
  Iraq's political, ethnic, and religious leaders deserve credit for 
appealing for calm in working to diffuse the violence. They recognize 
that every Iraqi has a stake in their new democracy and that a free 
democratic and prosperous Iraq is in the best interests of all.
  Their task now is to swiftly forge a national unity government so 
that leaders of Iraq's diverse population have the opportunity to 
peacefully appropriate the interests of their constituents. I am 
confident the Iraqi people will work to include all of Iraq's ethnic 
and religious communities in the democratic process. Indeed, they have 
no other choice.
  Iraq's political leaders must come together and continue to work for 
national unity so that the Iraqi people can live in the freedom they 
deserve and so that tragedies such as Halabja remain irrevocably in the 
past. The fight for Iraq is far from over. Every day ruthless criminals 
are trying to smash all of the progress that has been made, but they 
will not succeed. Iraq has been set on a historic path.
  This week, as we look back, we also press forward. With the continued 
courage and determination of the Iraqi people, Iraq will emerge a 
beacon of freedom and prosperity in the heart of the Middle East.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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