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'Chemical Ali' Found Dead in Basra
Monday, April 7, 2003

Posted on 04/07/2003 12:17:00 AM PDT by JohnHuang2

Edited on 04/07/2003 12:31:53 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

UPDATED AT 3:30 AM EST:

'Chemical Ali' Found Dead in Basra

.c The Associated Press

BASRA, Iraq (AP) - Ali Hassan al-Majid, dubbed ``Chemical Ali'' by opponents of the Iraqi regime for ordering a poison gas attack that killed thousands of Kurds, has been found dead, a British officer said Monday.

Maj. Andrew Jackson of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment told The Associated Press that his superiors had confirmed the death of the man who is also President Saddam Hussein's first cousin.

Jackson said the body was found along with that of his bodyguard and the head of Iraqi intelligence services in Basra.

Saddam had entrusted al-Majid with defense of southern Iraq against invading coalition forces.

One of the most brutal members of Saddam's inner circle, al-Majid, in his 50s, led a 1988 campaign against rebellious Kurds in northern Iraq in which whole villages were wiped out. An estimated 100,000 Kurds, mostly civilians, were killed.

He also has been linked to the bloody crackdown on Shiites in southern Iraq following a 1991 uprising following the Gulf War. He served as governor of Kuwait during Iraq's seven-month occupation of the emirate in 1990-1991.

Human rights groups had called for al-Majid's arrest on war crimes charges when he toured Arab capitals last January seeking to rally support against mounting U.S. pressure on Saddam's regime.

``Al-Majid is Saddam Hussein's hatchet man,'' Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch in New York, said at the time. ``He has been involved in some of Iraq's worst crimes, including genocide and crimes against humanity.''

Hazem al-Youssefi, Cairo representative of the opposition Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, described al-Majid as a standout in a regime of criminals.

Al-Majid was a warrant officer and motorcycle messenger in the army before Saddam's Baath party led a coup in 1968. He was promoted to general and served as defense minister from 1991-95, as well as a regional party leader.

In 1988, as the Iran-Iraq war was winding down, he commanded a scorched-earth campaign known as Anfal to wipe out a Kurdish rebellion in northern Iraq. Later, he boasted about the attacks, including the March 16, 1988, poison gas strike on the village of Halabja, where an estimated 5,000 people died.

During April 1991 peace talks in Baghdad, the Kurdish delegation leader, Jalal Talabani, told al-Majid that more than 200,000 Kurds lost their lives in the Anfal campaign. Al-Majid replied that the figure was exaggerated and the dead were not more than 100,000, according to reports published in the Arab press.

After Iraq's 1991 Shiite Muslim uprising was crushed, Iraqi opposition groups released a video they said had been smuggled out of southern Iraq. In the video, which was shown on several Arab TV networks, al-Majdi was seen executing captured rebels with pistol shots to the head and kicking others in the face as they sat on the ground.

He was no less brutal with his own family.

His nephew and Saddam's son-in-law, Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel, was in charge for many years of Iraq's clandestine weapons programs before defecting in 1995 to Jordan with his brother, Saddam Kamel, who was married to Saddam's other daughter.

Both brothers were lured back to Iraq in February 1996 and killed on their uncle's orders, together with several other family members.

Syria and Lebanon ignored international calls to arrest al-Majid when he visited in January. He dropped scheduled stops in Jordan and Egypt - both U.S. allies - and Egypt refused to receive him and the Jordanian government denied a visit was ever planned.

Saddam's inner circle was made up of relatives or clansmen like al-Majid, upon whose loyalty he could count.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 1983; 1988; 198803; 19880316; 198805; 19880526; 1991; 199103; 199104; 1995; 1996; 199602; 2002; 200209; 200211; 20021108; 200301; africa; algeria; alihassanalmajid; almajid; anfal; armscaches; assassinationplot; assyrians; asylum; asylumeffort; basra; brianross; caches; chemicalali; chemicalweapons; dujail; executions; falsealarm; falsereport; generalalmajid; gulfwar; gulfwar1; gw1; halabja; husseinkamel; iraq; iraqifreedom; iraqiwmd; jalaltalabani; justice; kamel; kennethroth; kuwait; lebanon; libya; majid; missile; missiles; missilestorage; northafrica; rumormill; sabotage; saddamasylum; saddamhussein; saddamkamel; shiiterebellion; shiiteupsrising; syria; talabani; tunisia; viceisclosing; victory; war; warcrimes; warlist; wmd; wmdtransfer
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To: brigette
GIVE HIS CORPSE TO THE KURDS!

Let the Kurds bury him, wrapped in pork fat, in Halabja.
81 posted on 04/07/2003 3:24:14 AM PDT by George W. Bush
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To: Im Your Huckleberry
What's "IIRC"?

That one stumped me, too, for quite a while.

"If I Recall Correctly"

82 posted on 04/07/2003 3:32:13 AM PDT by luigi
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To: JohnHuang2
Burn in hell you SOB!

I was hoping the Kurds could get ahold of him...
83 posted on 04/07/2003 3:41:35 AM PDT by Teetop (democrats....... socialist.........whats the difference?)
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To: KDD

I'll bet Satan is hoping our troops call a pause soon so he can catch up. He's rapidly running out of space in Hell these days...though I'm sure there are places reserved for monsters like Chemical Ali.
Continue to pray for the protection and the total success of all our troops. They still need it.
84 posted on 04/07/2003 4:06:52 AM PDT by kittymyrib
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To: JohnHuang2
Chemical Spill.
85 posted on 04/07/2003 4:22:59 AM PDT by Rocko
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To: Rocko
Did the call in the HAZMAT boys to swab him up?
86 posted on 04/07/2003 5:04:33 AM PDT by oyez (I'm an old fool, but..)
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To: CheneyChick
Can his (Chem-ali) DNA be used to verify Saddam's identity? Since there's so many Saddam "doubles" - just wondering.
87 posted on 04/07/2003 5:26:02 AM PDT by fivecatsandadog
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To: seamole
All your Basra are belong to us.
88 posted on 04/07/2003 5:34:02 AM PDT by Charles Henrickson (Somebody set us up the bomb!)
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To: JohnHuang2
He didn't die too soon, but he did die too quickly.
89 posted on 04/07/2003 6:41:57 AM PDT by CrazyIvan
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To: JohnHuang2
"...Saddam's son-in-law, Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel, ...with his brother, Saddam Kamel..."

See! I've been telling that bunch has been having unnatural relations with camels!

90 posted on 04/07/2003 7:02:27 AM PDT by Redbob
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To: RLK
Somehow this doesn't break my heart. Wrap him in pig shit and leave him in the ton square.

But take a DNA sample first.

91 posted on 04/07/2003 7:06:13 AM PDT by malakhi (Visualize global warming. Help stamp out winter!)
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To: TenaciousZ
I heard he stopped smoking yesterday.


Those JDAM "patches" are remarkably effective. ;)
92 posted on 04/07/2003 7:17:05 AM PDT by Tunehead54 (Support Our Troops!)
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To: JohnHuang2
Ali Bye-bye
93 posted on 04/07/2003 7:34:56 AM PDT by Mygirlsmom
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To: Sapper26
Report does not say when he died. Just that the body had been found.
94 posted on 04/07/2003 7:37:35 AM PDT by presidio9
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To: brigette
GIVE HIS CORPSE TO THE KURDS!

But be sure and snag some DNA first - he is/was Saddam's cousin, and this data could be helpful very soon.

95 posted on 04/07/2003 7:39:53 AM PDT by ErnBatavia (Bumperootus!)
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Comment #96 Removed by Moderator

To: JohnHuang2
Let the Kurds have his remains. I'm sure they can put them to good use... My suggestion: Line a sewer with them.
97 posted on 04/07/2003 8:13:16 AM PDT by Bush2000
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To: JohnHuang2
I couldn't help cheering this death when I heard about it late last night. That may or may not have been right but some folks simply deserve whatever they get, and Chemical Ali is one of them.
98 posted on 04/07/2003 8:29:31 AM PDT by mafree
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To: mafree
Me too. God forgive me but I am so happy to hear that this monster is dead! Now we need to make sure the same fate meets Saddam and his two crazy sons.
99 posted on 04/07/2003 8:53:41 AM PDT by Ferret Fawcet
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To: Grampa Dave
Now that's one funny cartoon!!!
100 posted on 04/07/2003 11:17:28 AM PDT by Live free or die
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