Chemical Ali's palace 'wrecked by looters' By Vanessa Allen, PA News, near Basra 03 April 2003 It was a potent symbol of the fall of a corrupt regime – the play palace of Chemical Ali, looted by the people he was sent to govern. A smashed photograph lay in the entrance hall, the faces ripped out but clearly showing Saddam Hussein and one of his generals, perhaps his cousin, the man dubbed Chemical Ali for his atrocities against the Kurds. At the bottom of his once opulent swimming pool lay the proof that this was the general's house – a...