Word: iraqi
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...secret talks with U.S. officials, Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim opposition leaders have been told that Saddam Hussein could be replaced by a pro-West military junta sometime this summer. The prospect has prompted some Shi'ites to discard their historic anti-U.S. stance in the hope of taking part in a power-sharing arrangement with a future military regime. "We can get on with the Americans," asserts a European-based opposition leader. "We worked closely with the Russians for 40 years. What did it get us? Garbage: antiquated weapons, outdated industrial goods and a lame economy...
...stories they recount in the refugee camps in the Iraqi town of Safwan are appalling. "Iraqi troops sent a tank to knock down the door of the holy shrine of Najaf," recalls Hajj Hattin. "Then they began looting all the deserted homes. They shot people at random in front of the crowds." Hajj Mohammed remembers a helicopter gunship shooting at civilians in the streets of Najaf. Iraqi soldiers "went into schools to threaten small children into giving the names of relatives they could accuse of being rebels," he says. "If the child did not answer, they shot...
These are some of the nightmarish recollections of the more than 18,000 people crammed into two huge, dusty tent camps along the Iraq-Kuwait border, one of them run by U.S. troops near the site where the Iraqi military accepted the allied cease-fire. The residents are the refugees of Safwan, most of them Shi'ites, who fled from Saddam Hussein's vengeful army when it recaptured several rebellious cities in the south after...
Omar and his family come from Kirkuk, the northern Iraqi city that was captured by Kurdish guerrillas in late March and retaken by Iraqi forces about a week later. Omar decided to flee Kirkuk after he saw the Iraqi Mi-24 helicopters hanging like avenging demons on the horizon, unleashing their terrifying rocket fire and evoking the threat of what he feared most: chemical weapons that make every breath a draft of fire. Not only was Omar sure that the Iraqis would kill many Kurds in Kirkuk in reprisal, but he also knew that he would be in more trouble...
...they have languished in the long queue of cars on the Iraqi side of the border for two weeks. Khaleda and her friends, seeing the hardships ahead in the refugee camp, are among a very small group who have decided to go back to their parents and take a chance that Saddam will honor his pledge of amnesty for the Kurds. "We can't stand it," she says. "At home we have a nice big house and lots of money. We don't trust Saddam. But we hope he will leave us alone." Nothing in her face shows that...