> That said, looking at, "A Modern History of the Kurds, " 2nd
> edition, 2000, published by I.B. Taurus pubs. in London, by David
> McDowell this morning at Borders, I see from the documentation
> he assembles from sources such as Middle Watch and Kurdish political
> orgs. a figure of 150,000-200,000 killed by the Iraqi Baathist
> regime during the Anfal operations of '86-'88 directed by Gen.
> Al Majid.
It's true. After Saddam gassed the Kurds at Halabja, there were some in Congress, led by Claiborne Pell, who tried to impose some very mild sanctions against Saddam - nothing like today's quasi-genocidal strangulation, just a ban on military sales, and a cutoff of a few USDA programs.
The Bush Sr. administration pulled out all the stops to defeat the bill and it died. How ironic that some liberals today use the Kurds' suffering as reason to back Bush Jr. in his new war drive.
Seth