sadness in my heart

sadness in the hearts of all...

I was just reading an article on Saddam Hussein and his cousin Chemical Ali discussing their Anfal plan which killed 180,000 Kurds in the late 1980's. It really saddens me. I find it hard to believe that people can convince themselves that hundreds of thousands of people deserve to die for disagreeing with you. Basically, that's exactly what Saddam, Chemical Ali and the rest of the Baath party did. They convinced themselves that they were fighting the right fight and purging the enemy. What about the innocent people who died? What about the children who were never given the chance to develop an opinion? Even the people who did disagree with Saddam, who supported the Iranians, who were standing up for what they believed in, who were a different ethnicity...did they really deserve to DIE for any of those reasons??? And it wasn't just the people who were siding with Iran that were killed. the genocide was targeted at any Kurdish male at an age to bear arms. It was also women and children, for many unknown reasons. Entire villages were destroyed, killed. Thousands of people were rounded up like cattle and detained in concentration camps. Thousands of men were executed. Thousands of people were subjected to things no human being should have to endure... like lying in a ditch with fresh corpses before being shot, like having your husband, son, brother, father sent away to a different group and then be locked into a small room with people you don't know...no food, no water, unsanitary conditions. These people endured chemical bombs that made them sick, burned their skin, swelled their eyes shut, and killed most of them. What possible "injustice" could deserve such a punishment? Being a Kurd or siding with Iran IS NOT an injustice of any sort. Everyone is entitled to their own personal opinions and ethnic or religious beliefs. Because someone's beliefs do not mirror your own does not make them wrong, does not make them less, does NOT make them punishable. I think this world would be a much safer, happier, and overall better place if people could have more understanding and acceptance for the differences in other people. We should love and embrace our differences, not execute or punish them.

I wish love and peace throughout the world. I wish innocent people not to be harmed. I wish for better understanding for all.