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| Iraq | ||
| Kurds Destroy Shrine in Rage at Leadership | ||
| 2006-03-17 | ||
So it came as a shock when hundreds of stone-throwing protesters took to the streets here Thursday on the anniversary, beating back government guards to storm and destroy a museum dedicated to the memory of the Halabja attack. The violence, pitting furious local residents against a much smaller force of armed security men, was the most serious popular challenge to the political parties that have ruled Iraqi Kurdistan for the past 15 years. Occurring on the day the new Iraqi Parliament met for the first time, the episode was a reminder that the issues facing Iraq go well beyond fighting Sunni Arab insurgents and agreeing on cabinet ministers in Baghdad. Although Kurdistan remains a relative oasis of stability in a country increasingly threatened by sectarian violence, the protests here — which left the renowned Halabja Monument a charred, smoking ruin — starkly illustrated those challenges even in Iraq's most peaceful region. Many Kurds have grown angry at what they view as the corruption and tyranny of the two dominant political parties here. They accuse their regional government of stealing donations gathered to help survivors of the poison gas attack. The town's residents chose Thursday to close off the town's main road and rally against government corruption. When government guards fired weapons over the protesters' heads, the crowd went wild and attacked the monument. The sudden and deliberate destruction of such a well-known symbol of Kurdish suffering clearly stunned officials with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which governs the eastern part of the Kurdish region. But many local people, including survivors of the 1988 attack — said the Patriotic Union was to blame, having transformed the monument into an emblem of its own tyranny and greed. "All the money given by foreign countries has been stolen," said Sarwat Aziz, 24, as he marched to the museum in a crowd of furious, chanting young men. "After 18 years, Halabja is still full of debris from the war, we don't even have decent roads." Several protests have occurred in recent months against the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which runs western Kurdistan and is led by Massoud Barzani. But nothing has come close to the violence that erupted Thursday in Halabja. Apparently unnerved by the prospect of publicity, party militia members tried twice to confiscate the cameras of a photographer for The New York Times who was leaving Halabja by car Thursday evening, and only stopped after an appeal to high-ranking party officials. At a hastily arranged news conference in Halabja, Emad Ahmad, the acting regional prime minister and a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan official, said the party would "try to address any defects and corruption that exist within the administration." He said the demonstration had started peacefully only to be overtaken by outsiders, and he hinted that Islamic radicals might be to blame. "There is a hand behind this, and we must cut off the hand," Mr. Ahmad said.
By all appearances, the attack on the Halabja Monument was an authentic expression of popular rage. The crowd contained young and old, men and women. Most seemed to view the museum — which was inaugurated in September 2003 at a ceremony attended by Colin L. Powell, then the secretary of state — as the prop of an unjust government. "That monument over there has become the main problem for Halabja," said Bakhtiar Ahmad, nodding at the museum, with its distinctive yellow crown-shaped roof. "All the foreign guests are taken there, not to the city." Nearby, Tara Rahim, a quiet 19-year-old dressed in a neat black cloak and head scarf, said she had come to honor her sister Zara, killed in the 1988 attack, and to stop the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan from taking advantage of the anniversary. "Kurdish officials used Halabja to gather money," she said, standing with a group of eight other identically dressed young women. "Millions of dollars has been spent, but nothing has reached us." The protest began about 9 a.m., when local residents poured onto Halabja's main road and ignited tires. As the crowd grew, protesters moved toward the monument and hurled stones at a sign outside that read, in Kurdish, "No Baathists Allowed Here." It collapsed in pieces. About 40 Patriotic Union of Kurdistan guards, gathered around the monument, began firing long machine-gun bursts into the air. The sound echoed like thunderclaps against the towering wall of snow-capped mountains that forms the Iranian border, a few miles away. The shooting only enraged the crowd, and as the guards retreated in a panic, the protesters reached the monument and began smashing its windows and glass display cases with stones. Inside, protesters poured propane from a can and set fire to it. Within minutes, flames were licking from the windows and a thick column of black smoke was twisting into the bright blue sky. The security guards moved back toward the monument, and some began firing weapons into the retreating crowd. One bullet sliced through the chest of Kurdistan Ahmed, a 17-year-old high school student, and he collapsed onto the grass, dying. By noon, it was over. One protester was dead, six were wounded, and most of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan guards had retreated to their compound on the edge of town, leaving the monument a blackened hulk of broken glass and shattered tiles. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #17 Alaska Paul, this is why we keep you engineers isolated from the rest of humanity. ;-) Aaaah, Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch. Got it, Zenster. Thanks! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-03-17 22:24 |
| #16 I've poured propane out of a vessel, but it was 50 below zero (C or F, it doesn't matter). Then light it and stand back! Once it gets some heat, it starts vaporizing and BOOSH! You have one hell of a fire! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-03-17 21:44 |
| #15 I am confused, though: where did the Sunnis come from in the final paragraph? It's about the Kurds protesting corruption and how the minority Sunnis who have caused so much grief and were responsible for so much of the official corruption are now on the receiving end from Shiites and Kurds alike. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys. Now, as to that "mad as a hatter" bit of Dead + Parrot [Big Grin] Have a good weekend, trailing wife. I hope this leaves you with a smile. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-03-17 21:12 |
| #14 I didnt' know that about the Amish, Zenster. That does show an admirable understanding of the difference between mine and thine, although burning down the barn is one heckuva temper tantrum. I am confused, though: where did the Sunnis come from in the final paragraph? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-03-17 20:45 |
| #13 The logic quite escapes me. gromgoru, think of the old saying, "you screw your friends because your enemies won't let you get close enough." Now, apply that same modus operendi to the shrine, merely a proximity factor at work. Plus, if you think about it, here's this expensive building that essentially |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-03-17 20:09 |
| #12 Many Kurds have grown angry at what they view as the corruption and tyranny of the two dominant political parties here. They accuse their regional government of stealing donations gathered to help survivors of the poison gas attack. The town's residents chose Thursday to close off the town's main road and rally against government corruption. When government guards fired weapons over the protesters' heads, the crowd went wild and attacked the monument. The logic quite escapes me. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-03-17 19:31 |
| #11 Many Kurds have grown angry at what they view as the corruption and tyranny of the two dominant political parties here. They accuse their regional government of stealing donations gathered to help survivors of the poison gas attack. The memorial's burning by the Kurds reminds me very little of the Amish who, when angered, burn down their own barns. Goodness knows that the Halabja memorial was probably built with diverted aid money so it did not have to come out of official pockets. I doubt many of us, including myself, can truly imagine the staggering level of corruption in the region, much less the profound impact it has on daily lives. Graft and bribery literally keep these people suspended in the stone age. It warms the cockles of my heart to think that Iraqi sunnis are finding the shoe on the other foot. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-03-17 14:56 |
| #10 their administration was orderly, stable, secular, and more or less open - no political prisoners, torture, etc. OTOH it wasnt really democratic, each party controlling its own zone Yes it does sound like New York. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-03-17 12:46 |
| #9 Someone needs to give them history books replete w/the lessons when the great unwashed doesn't get what they think is their "fair share." Then they won't be surprised when the pitchforks are sharpened. |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2006-03-17 10:26 |
| #8 problem was, back when Saddam was in power, and liberated Kurdistan was under the protection of the no fly zones, the KDP and PUK, managed a peace by dividing the land into two subregions. KDP and PUK were former rebel groups, and this may have been a necessary step in their transition to political parties. As has been widely noted, their administration was orderly, stable, secular, and more or less open - no political prisoners, torture, etc. OTOH it wasnt really democratic, each party controlling its own zone, and I presume there was at least some corruption, if not out of the ballpark by third world standards. Well, while supporting democratic politics nationally, the KDP and the PUK continue to exercise firm dominance in Kurdistan. And Kurdistan, much more so than the rest of Iraq, is prospering - which means more temptations for officials to extract corruption. Hopefully the PUK and KDP will take this seriously. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-03-17 09:08 |
| #7 I'm not sure this is a bad thing, aside, obviously, from the loss of life. Given enough time in office, all politicians become corrupt. Perhaps they'll follow this up with effective campaigning and action at the ballot box. At least they don't have to be worried about being gassed. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-03-17 07:48 |
| #6 Hey at least it is over govt. corruption not a damn cartoon. |
| Posted by: djohn66 2006-03-17 07:20 |
| #5 There has been very little decent reporting in the mainstream press about the internals of Kurdistan. Almost everything I've seen has been about the insurgency, the elections, the parliamentary wrangling, the "civil war". We don't know what led to this except in the broadest brush sense. Now that it has boiled over we'll probably get some of it, but not all. After over a decade of involvement with Iraq now, these are definitely the good guys of the lot. I don't doubt for a minute they had their reasons, either, as intelligent people don't face down machine guns over trivia, and the Kurds have shown they're very intelligent. Fighting political machines and their inherent corruption is a time-honored American tradition, assuming the Times got that much right, at least. Thank you, phil_b, for the link. That's an even better place to start. Just as with everything else, including here at home, I'll have dig and educate myself. |
| Posted by: Flirt Ebboting9253 2006-03-17 06:08 |
| #4 this is the first genuinly disturbing story to come out about the Kurds since the war started i think. This is indeed a dark event for Iraqs future unlike so many other bad events which are hyped by the media as 'the start or civil war' but alot of incidents like this could well upset the apple cart. A quick question- just how intergrated is the kurdish region with the rest of Iraq, is it getting more distant and seperate or is it just the media loathe to mention the success story that has been the Kurdish area. |
| Posted by: ShepUK 2006-03-17 05:48 |
| #3 Huh. I had been under the impression that Kurds might be a shining example of how not all Muslims are inherently violent self-destructive sub-human savages. Seems I may have been wrong. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2006-03-17 05:10 |
| #2 Inside, protesters poured propane from a can Another example of clueless journalists and editors at the NYT. Propane is a gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, and hence cannot be poured. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-03-17 04:16 |
| #1 Reading the Kurdish Media reports, this is what it appears to be. A spontaneous protest against corruption and (clan based) favoritism. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-03-17 00:19 |