A letter to the Honorable Brad Sherman, Representative in U.S. Congress from the State of California:

Please Vote in Favor of Recognizing the Genocide Against Kurdish People (H.RES. 422)

March 2nd, 2014

The Honorable Brad Sherman

2242 Rayburn House Office Building

United States House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative Sherman:

As the Chair of Kurdish American Committee for Democracy and Human Rights in Iran (KACDHRI), I am writing to urge you to co-sponsor the bi-partisan legislation, H. Res. 422, recognizing the campaign of genocide against the Kurdish people in Iraq. It calls on the U.S. government to reaffirm the commitment of the House of Representatives to the friendship between the United States and the Kurdish people in Iraq.

During Saddam Hussein’s regime, Iraq conducted a campaign of genocide against Kurdish minority population. Atrocities included the deportation and disappearances of Kurds in the 1970s and 1980s and the use of chemical weapons in the late 1980s, most notably on the town of Halabja. The campaign of genocide against Iraq’s Kurdish population consisted of poison gas on civilian villages, killing thousands indiscriminately. It had become the first in history to attack its own civilian population with chemical weapons. As a result, some 200,000 Kurds perished or disappeared, families were torn apart, and 4,500 villages were destroyed between 1976 and 1988.

This year marks the 26th anniversary of the attacks on Halabja when Iraqi aircrafts dropped poison gas to kill thousands of Kurds from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in gross violation of the international conventions against the use of chemical weapons. Earlier this year, the British Parliament passed a resolution recognizing this campaign of genocide and we encourage you to follow suit. Recognition of the campaign of genocide against Kurdish people by the United States Government will send to the world a message of support for human rights. I believe Congress should officially deplore this campaign of genocide. Therefore, I urge you, as your constituent to co-sponsor H. Res. 422.

Sincerely,

M.  Azad Moradian, Psy D., MFTI

Chair of Kurdish American Committee for Democracy and Human Rights in Iran (KACDHRI)

8055 Canby Ave. #4

Los Angeles, CA 91335

818-434-9692