A Poisonous Affair: America, Iraq, and the Gassing of Halabja [Paperback]

This book examines how America stood by and allowed Saddam's Iraq to amass chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war.This is the story of the gassing of Halabja during the Iran-Iraq war. It tells how Iraq was able to amass chemical weapons to target its victims as America turned a blind eye. Today, as the Middle East sinks into turmoil, these policies are coming back to haunt the West.This is the story of the gassing of Halabja during the Iran-Iraq war. It tells how Iraq was able to amass chemical weapons to target its victims as America turned a blind eye. Today, as the Middle East sinks into turmoil, these policies are coming back to haunt the West.In March 1988, during the Iran-Iraq war, thousands were killed in a chemical attack on a town in Iraqi Kurdistan. Both sides accused the other. Gradually it emerged that Saddam Hussein, with the tacit support of his western allies, was responsible. This book tells the story of the gassing of Halabja, and how Iraq amassed chemical weapons to target Iranian soldiers and Kurdish villagers as America looked the other way. Today, as the Middle East sinks further into turmoil, these policies are coming back to haunt the West.Introduction: the Halabja controversy; 1. Crossing the chemical threshold; 2. Setting the volume control; 3. Chemical interlude; 4. War in Kurdistan; 5. Halabja; 6. The Halabja demonstration effect; 7. Iran and the use of gas; 8. Fixing the evidence; 9. The road to Kuwait; Conclusion: fall-out. Joost Hiltermann has written an authoritative account of the real use of weapons of mass destruction in the contemporary Middle East - Saddam Hussein's massive use of chemical weapons against Iran in the 1980s. His research documents with great persuasiveness not only Iraqi crimes but also the culpability of those in the international community who carefully looked the other way or tacitly collaborated.
Gary Sick, former member of the National Security Council staff, Director of the Gulf/2000 Project,lc