On March 16, 1988, in the latter stages of the Iraq Iran War, Iraqi forces tested chemical weapons in the Kurdish town of Halabja. The test resulted in the death of 15,000 people, many of whom were civilians, and has been recorded as the largest scale chemical weapons attack in history. Some human rights organizations have classified the Halabja attack as an attempted genocide of the Kurdish people.BBC: Killing of Iraq Kurds 'genocide' (December 23, 2005)

Many of the survivors of the Halabja attack developed long-term medical conditions as a result of exposure to the various chemical and nerve agents. There are growing concerns that the congenital disorders and birth defects caused by the chemicals my have an effect on future generations of Kurds.Kurd.org: HALABJA POST-GRADUATE MEDICAL INSTITUTE (HMI)

• Saddam Hussein
  • FOX News: Saddam Charged in 1988 Gas Attack on Kurds - U.S. & World (April 4, 2006)
  • USA Today: Saddam accused of genocide in new charges (April 4, 2006)
  • The New York Times: Iran Charges Iraq with Gas Attack (March 24, 1988)

• Chemical Ali
  • BBC: Profile: 'Chemical Ali' (February 29, 2008)
  • Human Rights Watch: Who Was Ali Hassan Al-Majid ("Chemical Ali") ? (April 7, 2003)
  • openDemocracy: Put Chemical Ali on trial in Halabja (March 9, 2003)
  • The New York Times: Iraqi Leader Dismisses Minister of Defense (November 7, 1991)
  • Wikipedia: Ali Hassan al-Majid

• Iran
  • Information Clearing House: Did Saddam Hussein Gas His Own People? (March 1, 2003)
  • The New York Times: After the War; Years Later... (April 28, 1991)
  • New York Review of Books: Iraq's Chemical Warfare (November 22, 1990)