He returned to Iraq in the 1980s and became a member of the Kurdish opposition.

Kurdish opposition described this masscre as the Sabra and Shatila of Kurdistan.

What passes for fighting these days between Iraq and its Kurdish opposition is often symbolic.

Under no circumstances will the Kurdish opposition collaborate with the Saddam Hussein Government in Baghdad.

Kurdish opposition to Turkish forces is vehement.

Only this week, some Iraqi officials referred to the Kurdish opposition as "saboteurs" and "traitors."

The opposition, and not just the Kurdish opposition, is blocked, people are imprisoned on the flimsiest of pretexts.

Mr. Hussein was intent on quashing Kurdish opposition and cutting off any aid from Iran, just across the mountains.

Until this year, Turkey never even permitted the use of the Kurdish language in public, and it wages all-out war against its own Kurdish opposition.

Kurdish opposition to a Turkish incursion remains adamant.