Dutch to prosecute man for allegedly supplying Saddam Hussein with lethal chemicals [Halabja]

Boston.com ^ | 12-07-04 | Toby Sterling

[OXENinFLA]

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) Prosecutors said on Tuesday they will charge a Dutch chemicals dealer as an accomplice to genocide for supplying Saddam Hussein with lethal chemicals used in the 1988 chemical attack on a Kurdish town that killed an estimated 5,000 civilians.

Wim de Bruin of the national prosecutor's office said the suspect, who was arrested in Amsterdam on Monday, will face charges ''for violating the laws of war and involvement in genocide.''

Prosecutors said Frans van Anraat, a 62-year-old chemicals dealer, had been a suspect since 1989, when he was arrested in Milan, Italy, at the request of the U.S. government. But he was later released and fled to Iraq, where he remained until 2003. After the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, he returned to the Netherlands via Syria.

''The man is suspected of delivering thousands of tons of raw materials for chemical weapons to the former regime in Baghdad between 1984 and 1988,'' prosecutors said in a statement.

[OXENinFLA]

But but but how can this be? Michael Moore told me the US sold Saddam these weapons........< / sarcasm>

BTW The US only sold Saddam 1% of the weapons he had. (according to the Stockholm International Peach Research Institute.)

[OXENinFLA]

PING...

[OXENinFLA]

Arms transfers to Iraq, 1973-2003

[Diogenesis]

========= Halabja =========

Children, previously playing in Halabja
Victims of Saddams' WMD in March 1988.

---

[ChuckShick]

The US only sold Saddam 1% of the weapons he had.

Just remember, those are conventional weapons. The US sold Saddam no chemical or biological weapons. None, nada, zip. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise. They might claim that American companies sold some dual use chemicals but the government only provided licenses, it did not sell him anything. In any event, no one has been able to show that any American dual use chemicals have been weaponized.

[Mo1]

Oh Geez ... there goes another argument of Michael Moore's out the window

And to think .. the Hollywood Numb Nuts want to give Moore the Best Movie of the Year Award

[OXENinFLA]

The Dissident Frogman

Here's that bar chart again, one you can read this time. Be sure to read the comment nest to the red and green dots...};o)

[killjoy]

BTW The US only sold Saddam 1% of the weapons he had. (according to the Stockholm International Peach Research Institute.)

Not even that. IIRC, the US sold some Hughes 500 helicopters to Iraq for civilian use. These were later militarized in violation of the original deal.

[agere_contra]

Superb bar chart. Nice work from the dissident frog.

[Redbob]

So what will the Dutch do?
Slap him on one wrist? or both?

[monday]

What is the saying? Chemicals don't kill people, megalomaniac middle eastern dictators kill people. I guess the Dutch will be prosecuting gun and SUV dealers next. Makes sense, since everyone knows guns and SUV's are murderers.

[OXENinFLA]

I say we give him to the new Iraqi Gov't........Maybe they'll set him free, in Halabja.

[tje]

Where'd you get that graph? I'd like to get a more legible copy of it...

tje

[OXENinFLA]

See post #7

[RtWngr]

What are those things you just posted? Are they facts? Facts? Don't let the dems see this - they will turn into pillars of stone.

[Mister Baredog]

What are those things you just posted? Are they facts? Facts? Don't let the dems see this - they will turn into pillars of stone.

Gee and all this time I thought Rummy personally delivered WMD to Saddam in his luggage in 1983, that's the "conventional wisdom" isn't it? LOL

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

But but but how can this be? Michael Moore told me the US sold Saddam these weapons........< / sarcasm>

Please avoid confusing Michael Moore and his ilk with the facts. There aren't enough psychiatrists to go around.

[Panzerlied]

"So what will the Dutch do?
Slap him on one wrist? or both?"

My guess is they'll shake their fingers at him and say, "Naughty, naughty!"

[cake_crumb]

I love the dissident fog. I hit his site at least once a month and have forwarded the link to it out over the electronic ether. He did nice work on the flash video of Saddam's atrocities against his own people too.

[wasp69]

ping