Cause

Gas bombs going off

The cause for the Halabja Genocide is mostly because of the war between Iran and Iraq. Some reasons are, “Due to the Iraqi war with Iran, and the disputed nature of the territory” (Uekert). The major event happened at the end of the eight year war between the Iraqis and Iran. Towards the end of the war, the Iraqis wanted and needed more territory. That is when they decided to attack the small town of Halabja because the people wouldn’t be able to do anything. Many people thought, “If the Kurds were guilty of any crime, it was the "crime" of being a Kurd” (Uekert). This was also a major reason for why the Iraqis attacked Halabja. Iraqis had to make up a lot of excuses for invading Halabja and their main reasons were because they needed territory, Halabja religion, and their ethnicity. The war in Iraq and Iran was the major event that lead up to the bombing of Halabja.