Regards, Ivan
Posted on 03/31/2003 5:03:00 PM PST by MadIvan
WHEN Saddam Hussein drew up his battle plans for Iraq two weeks ago, he chose as one of his four key commanders a 62-year-old man with no educational qualifications who began his military career as a taxi driver.
But Saddam did not choose General Ali Hassan al-Majeed to control the southernmost part of the country because of his intellect.
In a regime where utter ruthlessness and unswerving loyalty are demanded, he knew that his cousin and right-hand man would get the job done.
A member of the Baath Party’s all-powerful Revolution Command Council, the man known as "Chemical" Ali for his role in the 1988 massacre of 3,200 Kurds in Halabja has seen his powerbase and brutal reputation grow through Saddam’s two-decade reign. Who better to ensure the people of Basra would keep quiet this time than the man who oversaw the crushing of the 1991 Shiite rebellion with the slogan, "No More Shiites After Today"?
Judging by reports earlier this week, which suggested he was directing paramilitary operations in Basra, the message is getting through. At least 18 people are believed to have been executed in the past few days. One of them, a tribal leader, Sheikh Rahim, head of the Al Bazun tribe, was killed for not ordering his tribe to defend the regime. His killing was believed to have been the source of the "uprising" which never quite materialised.
The same evening, members of the Baath militia were shot for failing to prevent Iraqi soldiers fleeing from British troops.
Along with Saddam’s sons, Uday and Qsay, al-Majeed is one of a small group of leaders in Saddam’s circle who have survived repeated purges.
But he is rarely seen in public and, like his leader, has adopted the policy of keeping his movements secret to avoid detection. His tactics appear to be working. Yesterday, after an operation specifically targeted at al-Majeed involving US marines who stormed into Shatra, north of An Nasiriyah, he was nowhere to be seen. He is also, according to unconfirmed reports, believed to have survived the first strike on Baghdad, aimed at "decapitating" the regime.
If yesterday’s operation had succeeded, it is if doubtful many Iraqis would mourn his passing. Also known as "the butcher of Kurdistan", al-Majeed led Iraq’s 1987-88 Anfal campaign against Kurds in northern Iraq. Up to 180,000 were killed in the campaign, which used chemical weapons, mass execution and forced relocation. Large parts of the region were entirely depopulated.
Later, when speaking to Kurds who confronted him with that fact, he jumped up angrily and shouted: "What is this exaggerated figure of 182,000? It couldn’t have been more than 100,000."
On another occasion, he is seen on video tape, telling Baath Party members to disregard any international reaction to the threatened use of chemical weapons.
"Who is going to say anything? The international community? F*** Them."
Iraqis who have survived encounters with al-Majeed talk of his terrifying capacity for casual violence.
One Shiite Muslim, who has experienced his barbarism first hand during the last Gulf war, where he rounded up Shiites, said: "He insulted our religion ... he called us ‘ignorant Shia’. One by one these men were brought to him, blindfolded and tied up. He said to the first: ‘What have you done?’ The man replied that he had done nothing. Al-Majeed told him that if that was the case he could go home. When the blindfolded man turned round, he shot him in the back. It seemed a big joke to him."
Toby Dodge, of Warwick University, said there was no doubt why Saddam had reportedly sent al-Majeed to Basra. "By putting him in Basra, you’re sending three messages," Mr Dodge said. "One, this is a weak spot. Two, we’ll do anything to keep it. And three, to the population of Basra: don’t do anything stupid."
It is unlikely, in the presence of al-Majeed and his henchmen, that anyone would consider such a thing.
Ali, 22, a medical student whose family live in Basra, told of how, during the 1991 uprising, which began in Sa’ad square, his father died after being forced to drink petrol and then set alight.
Al-Majeed’s brutal tactics are legion. As governor of Kuwait during Iraq’s occupation of the Persian Gulf emirate in 1990 and 1991, his rule was marked by murder, torture, rape and looting and thousands of Kuwaitis were executed. A favourite device for extracting confessions was to dip the limbs of his victims in an acid bath. His reputation has led some groups to believe he was behind Saturday’s suicide bomb, by a man posing as a taxi driver needing help, which killed four US soldiers.
Al-Majeed has also been linked to the execution of his nephew, Lt Gen Hussein Kamel al-Majeed, Saddam’s son-in-law, who ran secret weapons programmes before defecting to Jordan in 1995.
He played his most brutal role as ruler of Iraqi Kurdistan in the late 1980s.
A human rights book, Iraq’s Crime of Genocide, says al-Majeed ordered "all persons captured shall be detained and interrogated by the security services, and those between the ages of 15 and 70 shall be executed after any useful information has been obtained from them."
Regards, Ivan
Why waste a bullet on him? Stake him out on a fire ant mound :o)
Give or take a few. Kill him and kill him soon.
Hmmm. I'm thinking more on the line of putting him in one of those shredders, feet first. Same for the sons of Saddam.
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