Smell of fear in Halabja

As he journeyed to Iran one fine spring day in 1988, Ahmed Ghafour caught the scent of fresh apples. He took a deep breath, and exhaled. Blessed with rugged good looks, 18-year-old Ahmed, a resident of the Kurdish town of Halabja, had never given a second thought to his future.

He never would have imagined that the deceptively sweet smell would haunt him for the rest of his life.

The following year, he began to suffer from chronic headaches and nausea. Then, he lost sensation in his legs. Doctors told him his condition was a result of exposure to chemical substances – and irreversible. He would remain paralysed from the waist down.

"Before 1988, I never thought about the future. We all hoped Saddam would be removed from power somehow, sometime," sighed Ahmed, now 33, lying on the floor of his brother's living room, under a woolen blanket.

Since the diagnosis, he has spent his days watching satellite television and reading books. He never leaves the house.

"I am not waiting for the Americans to start the war… But if Saddam were in front of me now, I would cut him into pieces!" he groaned.

For Kurds worldwide, Halabja is a national tragedy, and a testament to the cruelty of Iraqi President Saddam Hussain, who did not shrink from attacking "his own people" with biological weapons. Thousands of innocent civilians died and hundreds more suffered gruesome injuries.