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"Beijing's modern war machine is closing rapidly on its 2050 target"
The Daily Telegraph ^ | 01/04/2007 | David Eimer
Posted on 04/01/2007 4:53:51 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1810189/posts
Dutch businessman who sold chemicals to Saddam appeals war crimes conviction
AP via International Herald Tribune ^ | April 01, 2007
Posted on 04/01/2007 7:57:38 AM PDT by jdm
THE HAGUE, Netherlands: A Dutch appeals court is to begin hearing the case Monday of a businessman convicted of war crimes for selling chemicals to Saddam Hussein that the Iraqi dictator used in the mass killings of Kurds.
Frans van Anraat, 64, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in December 2005 for selling tons of precursor chemicals that were made into mustard gas and nerve gas unleashed on Kurdish villages in northern Iraq in 1987-88.
Van Anraat said he didn't know the chemicals — some of which were purchased in the United States — could be used for anything but industry.
But judges at the Hague District Court disagreed, ruling that Van Anraat attempted to conceal the transfers with a network of holding companies because he knew he was violating a U.S. export ban, and knew the chemicals would be used for killing.
They convicted him of "complicity in violating the rules of war," but acquitted him of complicity in genocide, finding that he didn't know specifically that the chemicals would be used against the Kurds.
Judges gave him the maximum sentence possible under Dutch law, saying he was driven by greed and showed no remorse.
Van Anraat is appealing his conviction, arguing he was unfairly singled out for prosecution. Prosecutors are appealing his genocide acquittal, arguing he continued seeking to sell chemicals to Iraq, even after hearing of the attack on the town of Halabja on March 16, 1988, in which around 5,000 Kurds were gassed to death using chemicals he supplied.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...