Another sign of the progress we're making

From the Iraqi Press Monitor for April 1, quoting Al-Mutamar, which is issued daily by the Iraqi National Congress:

The families of Kurdish victims of the notorious Anfal operations have rejected the idea of national reconciliation with Baathists called for in the recent Arbil conference. The General Council of Faili Kurds said a mass grave had been found in Rashidiya in Baghdad, which held the remains of 400 Faili Kurds. Meanwhile, the Kurdish Center of Halabja Against Anfal and Massacres also has rejected the call for reconciliation with the Baathists launched by the Arbil conference. The Centre called for making April 14 a day of mourning in Kurdistan to commemorate massacres that the Kurds have suffered.

Al-Anfal - "the spoils" - was the name given by the Iraqi military to a series of bloody attacks on Kurds which lasted from February 23 until September 6, 1988. Human Rights Watch called it "a campaign of extermination."

Faili Kurds are a minority of a minority: Shiite Kurds. (Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims.) They were targets of special suffering under Saddam as they mostly lived along the Iran-Iraq border, making them also suspected of being "Iranians." The Arbil Conference in effect urged everyone to forgive and forget - or, as others would have it, "get over it." Apparently some people are not willing to do that.