IN THE PEDIATRICS HOSPITAL....

"IN THE PEDIATRICS HOSPITAL....Halabja has been at peace since American and Kurdish forces pushed a fundamentalist terrorist group out of the neighboring villages in 2003. People here tell me that some of the fundamentalists were Kurds, a thought that unsettles me, but they hasten to add that some were also Afghans and other foreigners fleeing the defeat of the Taliban. This recent history of the Shahrizur region, of which Halabja is a part, has been particularly contentious, because the Bush Administration claimed without much evidence that the terrorists received support from Baghdad. While they were no doubt convenient for the Baath Party, it's more likely that they received support from Iran, the country to which they eventually fled.

These arguments often create more smoke than fire, but the practical result is that many Kurds are still nervous about terrorism in the Shahrizur. The manager for Halabja Hospital, Dr. Ako, is concerned about being responsible for my secuirity. He mutters something about Guantanamo before stating that he wants me to commute back and forth to the town rather than staying overnight. I am not satisfied with this because I want to be on scene at all times to oversee the research. I begin to tell Dr. Ako that there's no chance he will end up in Guantanamo, but then I think of NSA taps, Abu Ghraib sex pyramids, and torture memos. We live in peculiar times, and I hold my tongue."
WM