'Chemical Ali' could be on trial next week

UPI ^ | 2/25/05

[areafiftyone]

BASRA, Iraq, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- More than 50 bullet holes in the wall of the empty swimming pool at "Chemical Ali's" house here indicate just how violent the former Saddam Hussein operative could be.

Border police who have taken over the house don't go out to the pool much, said Col. Ali Hussein Jabar, commander of about 30 men working there. Bad things happened there, Jabar said.

The relatively modest two-story house is built on an artificial hill surrounded by concrete. It looks out over flat, desolate desert sands inhabited only by sheep herders and oil pipeline guards for as far as the eye can see. Police took over the house recently because of its strategic vantage point looking over a road that leads to a strategic junction leading to Kuwait, Jabar said. It's about 30 miles northeast of Basra.

"Mr. al-Majid killed people here, so he should also be killed," Jabar said. "We are good to people."

Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his role in chemical gas attacks against Kurds in Halabja in 1987, could go on trial as early as next week. He is expected to have three charges brought against him, including, possibly, crimes against humanity, according to an Iraq Special Tribunal adviser who spoke recently on condition that he not be named.

If al-Majid is not first, he will be second, the adviser said.

"Hypothetically, suppose Defendant A was involved in the Anfal campaign and the expulsion of the Kurdish population in 1987," the adviser said. "After the (1990-91) Gulf War, when the Shiites rose up against Saddam, (suppressing) that uprising would be a different charge."

Some 12 former Baath administration officials are expected to face trial, including Saddam Hussein. They're believed to be held at Baghdad International Airport, based on interviews with Iraqis who talked to them soon after they were arrested.

Specific trials and details of cases have not been discussed because of security, tribunal officials say. Tariq Aziz, former deputy prime minister, may also be the first defendant to be called to trial.

It's impossible to verify that the holes in the wall of the house are bullet holes, although they are clustered in an area on the shallow end of the pool and only appear in one spot.

Al-Majid is a cousin of Saddam Hussein's. He was believed to be the power broker in the family -- fueling the rivalry between Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay. In March 2003, he was named the commander of the southern region of Iraq reporting directly to the president. He previously was "governor" of Kuwait after Iraq invaded in 1990.

In March 1987, al-Majid was named governor of northern Iraq, kicking off an offensive against the Kurdish population known as the "Anfal campaign." Kurdish groups say the events that followed were genocide.

According to a decree signed by al-Majid dated June 3, 1987, and later reported by the media, "Within their jurisdiction, the armed forces must kill any human being or animal present in these areas."

[Wneighbor]

Hoping justice comes swiftly to this monster. Old West kind of justice is past due.

[stm]

I heard some terrible stories while I was over there. Uday used to feed prisoner's to his lions and tigers for entertainment. He used to tell his henchmen to go and grab him a couple of virgins off the street. He would rape them and they they would either dump them back where they accosted them or kill them and toss their bodies into the Tigris. Often these girls were barely 15 years old. All of these stories were corroborated by several people, they are not "urban legends"

The depravity of these monsters is beyond words.

And the bleeding heart libtards still say we have no business in Iraq.

[Semper Paratus]

The depravity of these monsters is beyond words.

One woman Uday 'picked up' was not persuaded by his charm so he had her thrown to a pack of wild dogs while he watched her torn up.

[stm]

Uday wanted to have sex with a married woman once. Her husband protested and they sliced his face (and hers) to ribbons. I spoke to both of them. They were both hideously disfigured. Surprisingly they were not killed.

[SpaceBar]

A big, beautiful scaffold should be constructed in the city square of Tikrit, and the ropes and trapdoors tested for soundness with bags of sand approximating the weight of the soon-to-be condemned. All the townspeople should be forced to witness the executions and see just how their townsfolk turned monsters meet their end when justice finally catches up to them. And don't "cut them any slack" as the saying goes.