Mustard Gas Wall of Shame: Colin Powell Joins MWU! in Opening of Halabja Attraction

By Jawad Ali

Thank you Secretary Powell for visiting the little museum of horrors at Halabja. Muslim WakeUp! is celebrating this occasion by inaugurating the giant “Halabja Mustard Gas Wall of Shame” as the next tourist attraction in this tragic little town. We're happy that you could join us at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Let’s see what is on the plaque.

Look. There is a picture of you being greeted by Iraqi children with flowers. I wonder if they ever told you that this used to be one of Saddam’s favorite photo opportunity poses. You look much better.

And here is a picture of Saddam shaking hands with your buddy Donald Rumsfeld. This picture was taken in the 1980’s, and it shows what a great friend Saddam was at the time of the unfortunate gassing of the Kurds. It is nice to know that you were part of that administration too.

The seal of the US Department of Agriculture is here not because you have been graded as “The Other White Meat.” No, here is a quote from Robert Fisk that explains the USDA’s role in all this:

We must forget, too, that in 1988, as Saddam destroyed the people of Halabja with gas, along with tens of thousands of other Kurds – when he "used gas against his own people" in the words of Messrs Bush/Cheney/Blair/Cook/Straw et al–President Bush senior provided him with $500m in US government subsidies to buy American farm products. We must forget that in the following year, after Saddam's genocide was complete, President Bush Senior doubled this subsidy to $1bn, along with germ seed for anthrax, helicopters, and the notorious "dual-use" material that could be used for chemical and biological weapons.

You, sir, are the reigning Secretary of State. So what is Madeleine Albright doing here? We go to the famous quote from a 1996 CBS interview about the murderous impact of the sanctions on Iraqi children:

Leslie Stahl: “We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And you know, is the price worth it?”
Albright: “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price -- we think the price is worth it.”

That death toll was a hundred times greater than that of Halabja, and it deserves its own tourist attraction/photo opportunity. Maybe some of your buddies in the evil Baath Party decided that 5,000 dead Kurds were “worth it” for some political end. You were also part of this great Clinton administration that lead by example.

And how did Winston Churchill find a place at the Mustard Gas Wall of Shame, you are surely wondering. Sure, he was also secretary of state (for war and air), like you and Madeleine, but this time you had nothing to do with his murderous regime. Here is a quote from The Guardian that sheds some light on the grand-daddy of gassing Kurds in Iraq:

Churchill was particularly keen on chemical weapons, suggesting they be used “against recalcitrant Arabs as an experiment.” He dismissed objections as “unreasonable.” “I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes [to] spread a lively terror." In today's terms, "the Arab" needed to be shocked and awed. A good gassing might well do the job.

You can take credit for your role in bringing the lovable British troops back into Iraq. Right now, some of them are busy receiving oral sex from their Iraqi captives.

The Kuwaiti Ambassador’s daughter is here too. She is our poster child for war propaganda. Secretary Powell, you have told so many blatant lies leading up to this war that it is hard to tell what is true anymore. Halabja was used to drum up support for the current war, just as “Nayira” played her role in manufacturing outrage for the first Gulf War.

The Halliburton logo is here to symbolize why you are here in the first place. Sure, we could have also used the image of an oil well or a dollar bill, but Halliburton gets to the heart of this corruption. They are here now, reaping war profits for your buddies through fat no-bid contracts. But they were here through their subsidiaries all this time that Saddam was supposed to be a bad guy. Mustard gas is not cheap these days.

Saddam was careful to list all the American (and other) firms that sold him the ingredients for these weapons in his 12,000-page report. It’s nice that you tore those pages out. There is empty space at the bottom of the plaque, in case you change your mind.