Poetic Justice in Iraq

The regime of Saddam Hussein committed numerous atrocities against all of Iraq's people, as well as those of Iran and Kuwait. Its worst crimes however, were directed at the Kurds of northern Iraq. It is estimated that at least 100,000 Kurds were murdered in the Anfal campaigns of 1987-88, including thousands slaughtered in chemical weapons attacks. Throughout his reign, Saddam ethnically cleansed Kurds from strategically and economically important places such as Kirkuk, thus setting the stage for much of the current ethnic tension in Iraq.

Yesterday, Saddam Hussein, murderer of the Kurds, watched on television from his prison cell as Iraq's democratically elected transitional assembly named a Kurd, Jalal Talabani, to be the country's new president. Sometimes there is justice in this world.