A memory from the Anfal genocide of Kurds, 1988

(Draft notes)

The hospital was a small muddy building in a shallow valley that you could not see unless you were either almost there or on the surrounding hilltops. 27^th of February 1988 was a clear relatively warm day of the end of winter, we had 5-6 patients lying in the 2 rooms of the hospital.

I was sitting outside in the sun with some colleagues. It was 3:30 pm when we heard the roaring sound of the fighter planes which was so familiar to us and hence so easily recognized!  But the problem with these fighters is that the moment you hear them the next minute they are over your head, so those of us near the bomb shelter quickly jumped in and others run sheltering behind rocks and trees.  I managed to enter the bunker.

We heard the planes coming close and we heard the excruciating sound of the bombs coming towards us but while we were expecting a massive bang, the blast was quite out of proportion. So it was clear for us. Being near the entrance of the shelter I came out t first and I saw a dense white smoke rising near our ambulance. I told my fiends that it was a chemical attack and we had to get away as soon as possible. The plane had apparently located the white shining ambulance and targeted.

But what to do with the patients? We can’t move them! We ran to their rooms while covering our mouth and nose with a handkerchief, and gave them instructions; close the windows, pull the curtain, cover your face with a wet towel and keep the door closed. They all had companions who stayed with the patient.  Then we ran to the hill tops around the hospital and could see that smoke was rising from other places. We could still see the planes circling over the area and bombing other villages. They stayed for 20 minutes and dropped around 40 bombs on and around five villages in addition to the hospital. Later we found 3 other bombs in addition to the one near the ambulance 50-100 meter around the hospital.

When the planes left and the smoke settled, in less than one hour we came back to the hospital and quickly checked the patients, fortunately they were all fine. Two hours after the attack, victims started to come.  In total around 200 people were injured, civilians and militias suffering from burning, redness and watering of the eyes, cough, vomiting, shortness of breath, skin burns and blisters. Most injuries were mild by mountain standards.

The hospital had never been that busy before! Tens of people sitting and lying on the ground rapped in a blanket. We treated them with the simple medications we had. We  also admitted a few victims and one of them died after 2 weeks from respiratory symptoms. He was the first victim of chemical weapons till then in Qaradagh area.

More than 30 goats and a few cows had also died.

So we ended the day and the funny part of the tragedy was uncovered at night. We had a generator line from darkness until 11 o’clock. That night the lamps were exceptionally dim  and while we were sitting for dinner we were trying to find an explanation for that! One of the friends said “maybe the generator is also hit by the chemical gas!” No convincing explanation until 8 o’clock!

One of the team had being serving a patient and meanwhile complaining about the dim lights that night!  The patient was surprised and told him “why dim, they are just like all other nights!” Then he came back to us and told us the story which was not easy to believe, but it was true! None of us had other symptoms, probably we had only a mild congestion in the eye.

But the next morning we got up with some degree of redness and burning of the eyes which only lasted for several hours. Only then we were sure that we were affected by the gases. We were joking about it saying that while we left the patients and ran away from the gases, yet the gases were after us and the patients were safe! Part of this may be true because we were in the open near the gas, but probably we got most of it while attending to the injured after we came back!

We had a heavy rainfall the day after which washed away much of the gases. I checked the bombsite near the ambulance, it was a ditch of  1 meter depth and 3 meter in diameter and I found large peace of shell with letters “LVZ” written on it which probably meant lewisite, one of the blistering gases.

****

Cherishing our memories
Sometimes on the wings of memories, I travel fast, faster than imagination even, to the bright lanes of my past. The other day I found myself passing in the narrow and tortuous alleys of Homermandan and Sarshaqam that I have not seen for so many years. I wanted to revisit my middle school days when I used to go through this then-shortcut path to Jumhuri school, to Baxi Gishti and Berkhaneqa market. I saw the phantom of my classmates at my sides, heard their voices, paid no attention to the swearing of the bullies on the corners who sometimes used to bully us because we were from the other neighborhood of Qarachawa passing through their jurisdiction! The area had changed a lot and I hardly recognized the location of the bakery where I sometimes used to go and queue for hours to get 10 loaves of hot bread. Although I did not remember where it used to stand, I felt the dignity of the tall tree on which a stark had a nest and used to return every spring to lay eggs and breed a new generation before migrating in autumn to the warmer lands. And there was a Qawurma “sandwich of chickpeas” seller that I can never forget. He had the best qawurma in the area which he used to sell at home just behind the door of his muddy house. Most of the mornings I used to spend my daily pocket money there. On the way to school I used to peek through the door and ask for a qawurma which he made by spreading the ground chick peas on half a loaf of bread and adding some curries and few leaves of leek which I now think were hardly washed at all! It was so delicious that it has given me a permanent like for qawurma. Even now I eat it from time to time at home, albeit never as tasty as that one!

I enjoy traveling back to my memories from time to time and I think it makes my present more pleasant. It is a pity we are so busy with our daily routines that we frequently forget to celebrate our past, not only the wonderful times but all.