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Obscure al-Qaida Chemist Worries Experts By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent 7 minutes ago He's a mystery in a red beard, with a strange alias and a degree in chemical engineering. In the hands of this alleged al-Qaida operative, it's a specialty that summons visions of poison gas and mass terror. Al-Qaida is "wedded to the spectacular," notes U.S. counterterrorism analyst Donald Van Duyn, and elusive Egyptian chemist Midhat Mursi was said to be exploring such possibilities when last seen, brewing up deadly compounds and gassing dogs in Afghanistan. Van Duyn's FBI and other U.S. agencies are interested enough...

‘If they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern.’ secretary of state heard telling Nixon on 1973 tape. WASHINGTON – Henry Kissinger is heard saying the genocide of Soviet Jews would not be an American problem on newly released tapes chronicling President Nixon’s obsession with disparaging Jews and other minorities. Kissinger’s remarks come after a meeting between the two men and former prime minister Golda Meir on March 1, 1973, in which Meir pleads for US pressure on the Soviet Union to release its Jews. The men dismiss her plea after Meir...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two former Iraqi commanders denied gassing Kurdish civilians in northern Iraq 20 years ago, telling Saddam Hussein's genocide trial Thursday that they used only conventional weapons against Kurdish rebels and Iranian troops. Sultan al-Tai, minister of defense under Saddam, and Gen. Hussein Mohammed, a deputy director of army operations, testified to rebut evidence presented by prosecutors in videos and documents this week. The documents, prosecutors said, showed Saddam's government sanctioned the use of "special weapons" — mustard or nerve agent — against Kurdish civilians as well as rebel fighters in 1987-88. In sometimes emotional testimony, al-Tai alleged...

By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago Iraq Prosecutors Narrow Case vs. Saddam BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein could face up to 500 charges, but prosecutors will focus on 12 well-documented cases, including the gassing of thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq, an official said Sunday as the government pressed ahead with efforts to start the trial of the ousted dictator within two months. The announcement came a day after U.S. Marines said they had discovered 50 weapons and ammunitions caches over the past four days in the restive Anbar province. The find included a recently used "insurgent...

Toxic Indifference to North Korea By Abraham Cooper Saturday, March 26, 2005; Page A15 A day after Pearl Harbor, on Dec. 8, 1941, German death squads in the Polish village of Chelmno gassed Jews in specially equipped vans for the first time. Far from generating banner headlines, the story did not appear in the New York Times until nearly seven months later, on Page 6. Like the Allied powers, the Times consistently ignored or buried such reports until it was too late for 6 million European Jews. In 2005, the civilized world seems to be deploying the same dismissive, deadly...

The truth of what happened in Halabja had always been hidden from the public, and many who knew exactly what happened in this Kurdish village in the second half of March 1988 disputed the western media coverage of the story. What Really has happened in Halabja and The Racism of so-called Arab Intellectuals towards Kurds and Kurdistan: The case of Mr. Mohammed Al Obaidi I am writing in response to the twisted and distorted truth on Halabja by Mohammed Al Obaidi, and his disgraceful behavior against Kurdish Genocide. What happened in Kurdish Halabja, By Mohammed al-Obaidi, Wednesday 22 December 2004,...

FALLUJAH, November 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - US troops are reportedly using chemical weapons and poisonous gas in its large-scale offensive on the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, a grim reminder of Saddam Hussein’s alleged gassing of the Kurds in 1988. “The US occupation troops are gassing resistance fighters and confronting them with internationally-banned chemical weapons,” resistance sources told Al-Quds Press Wednesday, November 10. The fatal weapons led to the deaths of tens of innocent civilians, whose bodies litter sidewalks and streets, they added. “They use chemical weapons out of despair and helplessness in the face of the steadfast...

MANQOUBEH, Iraq (AP) - While the horrific images of streets strewn with bodies shook the world, many Iraqi Arabs remain unaware of Saddam Hussein's gas attack that killed thousands of Iraqi Kurds 15 years ago. And those Arabs who heard rumors of the slaughter in the northern city of Halabja say they did not believe them at the time. Some remain unconvinced today. The chemical attack on the Kurds stands as one of the most egregious examples of Saddam's brutality against his own people. It was cited by President Bush as proof that Saddam had the willingness and ability to...