# Did Saddam gas his people? I cant find the proof... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-saddam-gas-his-people-i-cant-find-the-proof/163883 "2003-03-24T22:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Purplefloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7cd45c/32.png) [@Purplefloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purplefloyd)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-saddam-gas-his-people-i-cant-find-the-proof/163883/1 "2003-03-24T22:00:00Z")
What HARD evidence exists that Saddam gassed his people? I spent a couple hours surfing around to find any real evidence and all i came up with was some undocumented eyewitnesses and heresay; i couldnt find any clear proof. I would also like to get ahold of any type of evidence that Saddam has commited genocide. Any FACTUAL links are greatly appreciated, thanks…😕 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-saddam-gas-his-people-i-cant-find-the-proof/163883/2 "2003-03-24T23:00:31Z")
Sorry I don’t have a link, but I saw the footage on the evening news when after it happened. ---
**Author:** ![Flying\_Monk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@Flying\_Monk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flying_Monk)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-saddam-gas-his-people-i-cant-find-the-proof/163883/3 "2003-03-24T23:07:28Z")
Actually, though the media keeps saying that, he didn’t gas his own people. He gassed the Kurds. Here are a couple of links: > **[When our “friend” Saddam was gassing the Kurds](https://mondediplo.com/1998/03/04iraqkn)** > > Subscribers // by Kendal Nezan (Le Monde diplomatique - English edition, March 1998) [http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0513/p08s01-wome.htm](http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0513/p08s01-wome.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-saddam-gas-his-people-i-cant-find-the-proof/163883/4 "2003-03-24T23:18:44Z")
Semantic quibbling. That’s like saying Hitler didn’t gas his own people, he gassed the Jews. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-saddam-gas-his-people-i-cant-find-the-proof/163883/5 "2003-03-24T23:20:26Z")
[Okay, here’s one](http://www.phrusa.org/research/chemical_weapons/chemiraqgas2.html). > [@](#): > > BOSTON, MA (April 29, 1993) - For the first time ever, scientists have been able to prove the use of chemical weapons through the analysis of environmental residues taken years after such an attack occurred. In a development that could have far-reaching consequences for the enforcement of the chemical weapons treaty, soil samples taken from bomb craters near a Kurdish village in northern Iraq by a team of forensic scientists have been found to contain trace evidence of nerve gas. The article contains [this link](http://www.phrusa.org/research/chemical_weapons/chemsaringas.html). > [@](#): > > BOSTON, MA (March 21, 1995) - Soil samples taken in 1992 from bomb craters near a Kurdish village in northern Iraq by a team of forensic scientists contained trace evidence of the nerve gas GB, also known as Sarin. This is the same lethal chemical agent identified in the Tokyo incidents of March 19. [Here’s one from the State Department](http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/iraq99h.htm). From a [debate in the House of Commons](http://www.casi.org.uk/discuss/1999/msg00750.html): > [@](#): > > In the 1980s, crimes against humanity and possible genocide were committed in the Anfal campaign against the Iraqi Kurds, including the notorious use of poison gas in Halabja in 1988. [The Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/daily/feb99/kurdprofile.htm): > [@](#): > > 1988: Iraqis launch poison-gas attack, killing 5,000 Kurds in town of Halabja. [Jurdistan Regional Government](http://www.krg.org/docs/articles/carlile-MSNBC-Nov-2002.asp): > [@](#): > > In just one of dozens of poison gas attacks, 5,000 civilians were killed in the town of Halabja, the first time chemical gasses were used to exterminate women and children since the Holocaust. The local population continues to suffer from high instances of cancer and birth defects. [Pravda](http://english.pravda.ru/world/2002/03/12/26930.html): > [@](#): > > Saddam Husain organized cruel operations against the Iraqi Kurds. In 1986 and 1988, poison gas was used against the Kurds, to be more precise, sarin gas. I hope this helps. On preview: > [@](#): > > Actually, though the media keeps saying that, he didn’t gas his own people. He gassed the Kurds. The Kurds are Iraqi citizens. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-saddam-gas-his-people-i-cant-find-the-proof/163883/6 "2003-03-25T01:27:59Z")
If you can handle having your stomach turned, check out the report on the Anfal operation (the code name for the Kurdish genocide) at [www.hrw.org](http://www.hrw.org).