Kurdish doctors prepare for chemical attacks
SULEIMANIYA, Iraq, (AFP) - Iraqi Kurdish doctors have met to prepare for an eventual chemical or bacteriological attack from Baghdad in case of a US-led war on Iraq.
But they admitted they had virtually no resources to counter a repeat of the offensive by Saddam Hussein's regime which killed thousands of Kurds in 1987 and 1988.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I remind you that we do not have one protective suit or gas mask to give to the people," one doctor told his colleagues in the presence of an AFP journalist.
Specialists in skin, blood or digestive disorders -- all declining to be publicly identified -- had gathered in a windowless room of Suleimaniya's teaching hospital to discuss the war threat.
One said they were haunted by 280 memories, that being the number of gas and biological attacks they had suffered, notably at Halabja, where at least 5,000 people were killed by nerve and mustard gas dropped by Iraqi planes nearly 14 years ago.
"Today people are still dying from cancer and leukemia, they suffer from asthma or sterility, or have miscarriages," the doctor said. "The gas used is genetically harmful and its effects will still be felt generations to come."
The March 1988 gas attack on Halabja -- to which the international community's immediate response was silence -- was apparently Baghdad's revenge for the support Kurdish militia gave enemy Iranian troops.
Since 1991, when US-led forces ended Iraq's seven-month occupation of Kuwait, the Kurds have enjoyed autonomy from Baghdad's rule, protected by British and US planes patrolling the skies of northern Iraq.
But they fear another US-led war, aimed at wiping out Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction and possibly toppling the man they call "the dictator", will trigger a last spiteful use of those weapons against them.
The authorities in Suleimaniya, capital of the area controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, had asked doctors with some knowledge of the effects to pass it on to other medics and paramedics.
The 30 who gathered Monday had mostly, and paradoxically, received their training in Baghdad at the end of the 1980s, while others learned the hard way from their experiences at Halabja and elsewhere.
"I don't know why, but I was given an intensive six-week course," one said, adding, "I still have the certificate."
In the weeks to come they will hold seminars in the hospitals, before an information campaign is mounted among the general population.
One major problem is to avoid spreading panic, they said.
"We only have practical advice to offer them," said the doctor who had warned of the lack of equipment.
These included stopping up doors and windows in case of an attack, and keeping plenty of water on hand to wash away the toxic substances, each of which require different countermeasures.
"Evacuation plans must be drawn up, but that's the politicians' job, not ours," he added.
Some of those present voiced resentment at the United Nations, whose representatives in Suleimaniya were absent from Monday's meeting.
"We asked them several times, but they told us that was not in their mandate."