2006年VOA标准英语-Kurds Seek Justice in Next Saddam Trial

By Margaret Besheer
Irbil, Iraq
29 June 2006

Iraq's High Tribunal announced this week that former dictator Saddam Hussein and six co-defendants will go on trial August 21 for the mass killing¹ of tens of thousands of Iraqi Kurds during the 1980s in what was called the Anfal Campaign. VOA's Margaret Besheer is in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, and tells us hundreds of Kurds have volunteered to be witnesses at the trial, hoping for justice.

---------------

 
Bones of victims 
  
On February 25, 1988, Saddam Hussein's army began a campaign of mass murder against Iraqi Kurds living in the northern part of the country. When it ended the following September, tens of thousands of Kurdish men, women and children had been killed, or had disappeared. Some human rights groups estimate the number of dead to be as high as 182,000.

The regime's codename for the operation was al-Anfal, the title of a chapter in the Koran that means 'spoils of war' in Arabic.

In eight separate stages during 1988, Saddam's tanks and troops attacked and destroyed more than 4,000 Kurdish villages. They began their campaign in the east, in Sulamaniyah, and moved westward² through Irbil to Dahuk, near Iraq's border with Turkey.

One of the worst attacks during this period was against the town of Halabja, on the Iran-Iraq border. Here, Saddam is accused of ordering the use of chemical weapons, killing some 5,000 civilians³. This crime was so horrific that the Iraqi High Tribunal will consider it in a separate trial.

Almost 20 years later, many Anfal survivors⁴ have still not recovered from the loss of their loved ones, livelihoods⁵ and homes. 

Chnar Abdullah    
  
Chnar Abdullah heads the newly-created Ministry⁶ for the Anfal in the Kurdish regional government. She says survivors face special problems.

"We have conducted research, and found that 20 percent of survivors, particularly women, are likely to have psychological problems, because they lost the men in their families," she said. "Until now, many still do not know what has happened to their loved ones, and they are still waiting for them to return."

As the starting date for the Anfal trial approaches, Abdullah says her ministry is working to prepare some of the evidence. She says more than 1,000 Kurds have offered to publicly testify against Saddam and his co-defendants, but the Tribunal has asked for only 200 witnesses.

She says, two things must come from this trial: that Saddam be found guilty of his crimes and face justice; and that the survivors be allowed the right to ask Saddam for compensation for their loss.

When Saddam's trial opens in August, it will be in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Yousif Shwan is the Kurdish regional government's human rights minister. His ministry was responsible for Anfal issues before the Anfal Ministry's creation. He says most Kurds want the trial to be held in northern Iraq.

"If you take the general idea of the people, they say he did these things in Kurdistan, so he should be brought to Kurdistan, and the trial held in Kurdistan," he said.
 
 
Hareer villagers
  
In the village of Hareer, residents live frozen in time. Their lives stopped on the morning in July 1983, when they lost everything. It was here that Saddam's troops killed some 8,000 men and boys from the Barzani tribe in retribution for their leader, Massoud Barzani's alliance with Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war. Although earlier than the 1988 campaign, these crimes are also considered to be Anfal by the Kurds, and will be part of the case against Saddam in August.

8,000 members of the Barzani tribe were massacred on July 31, 1983  
  
Pirouz remembers when Saddam's troops surrounded her village.

"It was before dawn and still dark; we were sleeping when they attacked us," she said. "They took the boys and the men."

Recently, mass graves were unearthed⁷ in the western Iraqi desert containing the bones of some of these missing men and boys.

Although Saddam's trial will be held in Baghdad and not northern Iraq, many Kurds are relieved that the former dictator will finally have to answer for the suffering he has caused their people.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 westward   

n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西

参考例句：

• We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
• Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。

3 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

4 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

5 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 unearthed   

出土的（考古）

参考例句：

• Many unearthed cultural relics are set forth in the exhibition hall. 展览馆里陈列着许多出土文物。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。