I met Professor Michael Kelly, author of Ghosts of Halabja: Saddam Hussein and the Kurdish Genocide, for the first time at an event hosted by the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C., on March 18, 2024. The event commemorated the 36th anniversary of the 1988 Halabja chemical attack, which was carried out by the former Ba’ath regime under the direct order of Saddam Hussein. 

Kelly is currently coordinating the International and Comparative Law Program at Creighton University School of Law, but in the early 2000s, he conducted fieldwork on genocide in Iraq and provided consultation to the Kurdish Regional Government on federalism and other constitutional issues. 

During the panel discussion titled “36 Years of Pursuing Accountability and Justice,” Kelly highlighted the atrocities endured by the Kurdish people under the Ba’ath regime. Although the panel only allowed limited time, the book delves into the details of these events. 

During a break from the panel, I had the opportunity to chat with Kelly, and he emphasized that accountability for the genocide has not been achieved. Saddam Hussein escaped trial, he noted, and while the state of Iraq acknowledged the genocide, it has failed to take effective action. He stressed the importance of Iraq compensating the victims and taking responsibility.

As Kelly pointed out, there were two principal perpetrators of the genocide. One was Saddam Hussein, whose trial was left unfinished, allowing him to evade accountability. The other was the state of Iraq, which admitted the genocide occurred but lacked an effective legal apparatus and enforcement mechanism to prosecute its guilt. Holding the state accountable involves making it acknowledge its role in the atrocity and providing compensation to the survivors, which should be done even 36 years after the genocide. 

In his book, Kelly extensively discusses the history of the Kurdish genocide and how it was not adequately addressed by Saddam Hussein’s trial. While Saddam Hussein’s execution marked the end of his oppressive rule and brought some justice for the crimes committed against Iraq’s Shi’a population, it did not serve justice to the Kurds. 

As Kelly highlights, the Kurds have faced ongoing adversity since the end of World War I, when their right to their own homeland was denied, resulting in their division across Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. However, during Hussein’s 24-year reign, the Kurds suffered frequent injustices. Between 1987 and 1989, Hussein unleashed genocide, destroying over 2,000 villages and killing at least 50,000 Kurds. 

As his dictatorship came to an end, the Kurds anticipated holding Saddam Hussein accountable, but they were sidelined by the Iraqi High Tribunal, the Iraqi government, and the U.S. government. While the Shi’a celebrated their victory, the Kurds were left without resolution, as Hussein’s death absolved him of all charges related to the Kurds. The international community turned its back on the Kurdish genocide and seemed to deny them the justice they deserved.

Goran Shakhawan is a Kurdish-American journalist and author based in the United States. He has covered news for several Kurdish news outlets and was a former senior correspondent for Kurdistan24 in Erbil and Washington D.C. He has several published several books in Kurdish.