Free Republic

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

WASHINGTON - The Veterans Affairs Department no longer will pay for studies that seek to show stress is the primary cause of mysterious ailments afflicting thousands of veterans of the 1991 Gulf War. For years the federal government has pointed to stress as the likely reason for the sicknesses. But Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi is to announce the VA will set aside up to $15 million for a year of Gulf War illness research. A stipulation is that the money not pay for studies that propose stress as the only explanation for the ailments, said Stephan Fihn, the...