Halabja.

Clintons Cat

Here is a intresting article written by Richard Beeston one of only a handful of western journalists to witness the aftermath of The Iraqi Chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja.During the late eighties.
It makes for harowing reading,but also serves as a warning of the cruelties capable of this Dictator,and the efforts made in the west to "sanitise" and cover up his crimes.

http://search.thetimes.co.ukthen search for Halabja.
Article title "The streets were littered with bodies. I counted scores of dead"

After initially expressing its horror at the use of chemical weapons and summoning the Iraqi ambassador for a minor dressing down by a junior official at the Foreign Office, the Conservative Government, under Margaret Thatcher, did not let the matter cloud its relations with Baghdad.

Four British ministers actually travelled to Iraq after the attack on Halabja to help to secure trade deals with Baghdad, supported by generous loans guaranteed by the Government.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Sir Geoffrey Howe, then Foreign Secretary, said in response to a question in November 1988: “We have certainly been appalled by the suffering inflicted as a result of the large-scale displacement of Kurds from their homes in Iraq. We have proclaimed the evidence of CW use as compelling but not conclusive.”

One arguement that keeps cropping up over Halabja was that it happened a long time ago and that Sadamn hasnt used chemical weapons for over a decade.
But i find that arguement to be flawed for a variety of reasons notably there has since the end of the Gulf War been constant monitoring of sadams regime and until 1998 a constant monitoring and destruction of his stocks of chemical and biological weapons.
The second arguement follows the line that because the west failed to act at the time of Halabja,it forfieted its moral authority to act now.This is a more persuasive arguement but it fails to consider the fact that whilst sadamn is a constant,both of his most outspoken critics (America and Britain) have both had changes of government.
it would would in my opinion be erroneous to blame Blair for the failings of the Tories to tackle Sadam ,as would to blame the current generation of American Republicans for the failings of the Reagan Administration.