Horror Upon Horror From a World Away : Kurds: His parents barely survived the gassing of Halabja; now they are lost, and the son, an American, asks why his government has been so callous.

My folks had never seen my children. They lived far off in the Kurdish hills where I was born and am now exiled from. By chance, I was able to have portraits of the children taken to Kurdistan by an acquaintance rather than risk the mails. How happy and proud I imagined my father would be to receive this dear parcel.

Soon after the pictures were sent off, Saddam Hussein bombed my hometown, Halabja, with chemical weapons.

It was months before I learned what had become of my family. Word that something was about to happen had reached the town, and my mother, brothers and an aunt fled to the Iranian border. My father remained behind to protect his property, which represented his life’s savings. As they kissed goodby, my parents expected to be reunited shortly; they did not know the horror Saddam Hussein had in mind for the Kurds of Halabja.

The chemical weapons released from the bombs mercifully did not kill my father. He was instead rendered blind. For a full week, he made his way about the ruins of his home, alone and blind. A rescue team found him there, confused, hungry and in pain.

My father joined my mother in an Iranian refugee camp. What little had been salvaged from the property he’d given so much to protect was sold to buy food and blankets for the harsh Iranian winter.

My maternal grandfather, too, had remained in Halabja. He was among a group of 25, mostly relatives, who sought safety underground. The poison gas found them there. Later, more bombs hailed down until the house above them was flattened. It was more than a month before the bodies were recovered from their basement tomb.

So many were lost to me that day. Family members, friends from grammar school to senior high school. How many I’ll never know.

I loved that little town. I had hoped for a day when I could revisit and see my old friends. To sit in the cafe drinking tea and being brought up to date. I wanted my children to see the beauty of the Kurdish culture as it flourished in this town known as Shari-Shieran, the Garden of the Poets. Together with the summer picnics, the singing and, of course, the dancing, time in Halabja could give my children a knowledge of their forefathers--and a sense of this father from a place where I was at my best, in the heart of the country and people of Kurdistan.

Today Halabja is a ghost town; entry is strictly forbidden.

Eventually my folks made their way back into Iraq. They were penniless but not without friends. I remember, when I was growing up, that my father could not sit down to supper without first knowing if his neighbors had enough to eat. His kind and gentle nature also was remembered by others, who then cared for him and my mother.

The bombing of the Kurds in Halabja was one of the many atrocities suffered by the Kurds under Saddam Hussein. Unlike the other incidents, Halabja commanded the world’s attention.

After Halabja was bombed, President Reagan and, later, President Bush refused to allow any formal sanctions by the United States against Iraq in protest of its treatment of the Kurds. The silence of our government gave Saddam Hussein tacit permission to continue his ways. One has to wonder if he would have invaded Kuwait if the United States had taken a stronger stance after Halabja.

The war in the Gulf brought from our President gallant words of a new world order. I had hopes that the allied victory would bring an end to the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein. Perhaps then the Kurds of Iraq could live in peace without the ever-present threat of genocide.

Yet, true to form, the President again ignored the Kurdish people. Still hungry from the blockade, they fought against all odds and the Republican Guard to preserve Kurdistan in Iraq. Bush would not even allow them to have humanitarian aid.

As the exodus of Kurdish refugees to the mountain borders began, Bush again turned a blind eye. The world community and the people of this nation did not allow Bush to simply ignore this human tragedy. But it was much too late when this government took action to help the Kurds.

Watching the news, I was horrified to think of my old mother and blind father making their way more than 100 miles through the freezing weather to the Iranian border. I have learned that 50 families from the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan were trying to get to the border when snow and starvation forced them back to their homes. Upon return they were rounded up and promptly burned alive. I pray that my parents were not among them.

I am heartened to see my fellow Americans’ compassion and action in response to the sheer horror of the Kurdish refugee situation. As a citizen, I am disheartened by our government and its years of indifference to the Kurdish people.