Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

'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
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-112 next last
To: Arkinsaw
Confirmed by four different news services.

He's toast!

21 posted on 04/07/2003 12:23:32 AM PDT by Im Your Huckleberry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
"Nothing follows"

Except a DOZEN duplicate posts, ROFL! That is the most I have ever seen - you have the fingers of a wizard, JH2!

22 posted on 04/07/2003 12:23:35 AM PDT by cgk (the Mrs half)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Im Your Huckleberry
Killed the head of the intelligence services too! Body was found with Ali!
23 posted on 04/07/2003 12:24:01 AM PDT by Im Your Huckleberry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Ali, I say this as a gentle, mild-mannered, Christian: Roast in Hell, you thug!
24 posted on 04/07/2003 12:24:08 AM PDT by My2Cents
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #25 Removed by Moderator

Comment #26 Removed by Moderator

To: JohnHuang2
Boom! Boom!
Out go the lights!
27 posted on 04/07/2003 12:24:59 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (Because there are people in power who are truly evil.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: My2Cents
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but then can do no more. Be afraid of Him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell.
28 posted on 04/07/2003 12:25:14 AM PDT by drlevy88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
And bringing up the Rear: Last to report Chem. Ali death --CNN.

While they go on droning about the doubtful situation, in the north.
29 posted on 04/07/2003 12:25:43 AM PDT by truth_seeker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bcoffey; All
'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.

30 posted on 04/07/2003 12:26:06 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

"Most illingest c-boy Well I got that feeling
I am most ill and I'm rhymin' and stealin'

Chemical Ali and the Forty Thieves
Chemical Ali and the Forty Thieves
Chemical Ali and the Forty Thieves
Chemical Ali and the Forty Thieves
Chemical Ali and the Forty Thieves
Chemical Ali and the Forty Thieves
Chemical Ali and the Forty Thieves
Chemical Ali and the Forty Thieves..."
31 posted on 04/07/2003 12:26:42 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
I thought it was believed that this guy bought the farm in the first couple of days of the war? I seem to recall news reports to that effect.
32 posted on 04/07/2003 12:27:18 AM PDT by Sapper26
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Died in a bombing?
33 posted on 04/07/2003 12:27:19 AM PDT by drlevy88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Im Your Huckleberry; RLK
We should have warned the sand maggots that all our forces had coated their bullets in pigs blood.

IIRC, US General Pershing did just that on Mindanao, only it was pig fat. Then he had the bodies wrapped in pigskins and buried.

34 posted on 04/07/2003 12:28:12 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (Because there are people in power who are truly evil.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: drlevy88
Details posted at #30
35 posted on 04/07/2003 12:28:23 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Diddle E. Squat
To quote Strela on another thread:

THEY TOOK THE BAR! THE WHOLE. F---ING. BAR!!!


36 posted on 04/07/2003 12:28:51 AM PDT by Timesink (When was the last time YOU remembered we're on Code Orange?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Just saw a brief report on AP and AOL's AP. Nothing following yet.

Well, well! The day of reckoning has come for the evil-doers.
Sorry, no virgins for Ali. Nope.

37 posted on 04/07/2003 12:29:13 AM PDT by Ymani Cricket
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Diddle E. Squat
One more Demon in HELL !!!!!!!!!!!!
38 posted on 04/07/2003 12:29:24 AM PDT by noutopia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
An estimated 100,000 Kurds, mostly civilians, were killed.

As usual
the high school graduate
who wrote the article
neglected to mention that Assyrians and Turkmen also were killed.

39 posted on 04/07/2003 12:30:17 AM PDT by Allan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: drlevy88; All
'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.

40 posted on 04/07/2003 12:30:26 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-112 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson