US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell today inspected the scene of a chemical weapons attack in northern Iraq 15 years ago.
The attack in Halabja, which killed 5,000 Kurds, is often cited by Washington as proof of the danger posed by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Mr Powell, the second top US official to visit Iraq since US-led forces overthrew Saddam in April, cut a ribbon at a memorial to the attack.
The visit to Halabja was designed to draw attention to human rights abuses under Saddam and remind the world that the former government used chemical weapons against Iraqi civilians. Saddam attacked the Kurds because he suspected them of having sympathies with Iran during the Iran-Iraq war.
The United States cited development and production of weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological and nuclear arms - as the prime motive for the invasion of Iraq. But no such weapons have been found since the US occupation began.
By contrast to central Iraq, the northern, largely Kurdish areas of the north around Halabja still demonstrate broad sympathy to US occupation forces - largely because of the chemical attack and other actions by Baghdad that drove many Kurds from their homes.