In a poignant inquiry into the strange wars of Kurdistan, the lush Babylonian mountains of Northern Iraq host again the ancient rivalry which has bedevilled the Kurdish regions. The fighting between the KDP and the PUK was triggered by the former's deal with Saddam. Massoud Barzani, the KDP leader, and architect of the Kurdish deal with Saddam, insists he would not have dealt with the Iraqi leader if the West had agreed to assist the Kurds of Iraq. The aim of the Iraqi National Congress, a Kurdish organisation run closely with the US, is to destabilise Saddam Hussein. At their compound in Erbil Kurds who helped the INC still live in fear of Iraqi agents in the town. Hundreds of their compatriots were executed by the Iraqis when the KDP Kurds and the Iraqi troops first took the city. Barzani, the KDP leader, denies that Iraqi agents are still in Kurdistan. In Halabja memories of the gas attack in 1988 are still fresh. The ruins and survivors of those terrible days remind everyone just how bad things could get if Saddam comes back.

Produced by ABC Australia