How fascinating that you should mention the Behistun inscription in context of Iraq.

I seem to remember that Darius is also a suspect in the assassination of Smerdis' predecessor Cambyses.

Darius was an officer in his bodyguard when Cambyses, surrounded by his bodyguards, somehow managed to stab himself while mounting his horse.

Halabja, as you point out, is one modern event almost as shrouded in mystery as Darius' accession to power.

Everyone seems to have forgotten that Halabja was actually a battle in the Iran-Iraq war, and had fallen to Iranian forces and their Kurdish allies the day before the gas attack began.

At the time, the US claimed it was the Iranians who were responsible for all those gas deaths.

A certain Senator John McCain repeated that claim in Congress about six months later.

In fact the US only started blaming Saddam for Halabja after he invaded Kuwait.

I'm not saying this to exonerate Saddam. It's pretty clear today that he really was the guilty party in the gassing (though his attack was probably planned using US satellite photos of the front).

I merely point it out because it lends further support to your premise that you can't believe everything you hear.

As Hitler said, the most outrageous lies are often the most successful ones.
OD | 03.08.06 - 7:52 pm | #