The Kurds of northern Iraq are marking the 15th anniversary of the chemical attack carried out by Iraqi Government forces on the town of Halabja, where at least 5,000 people, many of them women and children, died in a single day. With another war apparently looming, many Kurds today fear that Saddam Hussein’s forces may again lash out at them with chemical weapons in revenge for their opposition to his regime. Some things may be forgotten over 15 years but not a disaster or atrocity of this magnitude. Practically everybody in Halabja lost close relatives or friends that day. Some tried to escape the bombing by sheltering in basements, not knowing that poison gas is heavier than air. Others tried to flee but were caught in the deadly clouds and died where they fell, mothers clutching their dead babies to them. Full Story