146.
   “America and the world stood by as the two countries threw themselves at each other. One and three quarter million died. The CIA helped Iraq calibrate mustard gas, nerve gas and cyanide attacks. Then on the 16th of March 1988, Saddam used weapons of mass destruction on his own people. Have you ever heard of Halabja? It is a Kurdish town in Northeastern Iraq. It was occupied by Iranian soldiers and Kurdish separatists. The Iraqi air force first attacked with cluster bombs, pretty toys that caught the eyes of children and blew off their hands when they picked them up. Then white phosphorous was dropped that turned the body into a pile of ashes, then cyanide, then mustard gas, then VX, then tabum. Five thousand people died ungodly deaths, mostly the sick, the elderly and children, anyone who couldn’t run away. Seven thousand others were gassed and have been dying slow and painful deaths ever since. Oliver, the blood and suffering of these victims, their horrible and unspeakable deaths are on your hands and the hands of the world as much as they are on the hands of Saddam Hussein. Survivors returning to the village found children in the arms of their fathers and mothers, whole families lying next to each other in the agony of death. Hundreds of other Kurdish villages were attacked and thousands more died. Countries have been helping other countries destroy each other even at the expense of their civilian population for a long time, but this, Oliver, this...” Pat stared into the desert and bit his lip.

  Conrad moaned and began to gain consciousness. I put my hand on him. “Conrad, I need you now. You are the most amazing man I have ever met. When I look into your eyes, when a smile dawns across your face I feel at peace. I can’t lose you. I won’t lose you.