'Chemical Ali' executed in Iraq

Kurdish leader describes the 'gassing of Halabja'

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST News Service

Ali Hassan al-Majid, a former Iraqi official known as "Chemical Ali," has been executed by hanging, a government spokesman has announced.

The BBC said on its website, "Majid, an enforcer in Saddam Hussein's regime and his cousin, had earlier been sentenced to death four times for genocide and crimes against humanity.

"Earlier this month, he was sentenced to death for ordering the gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988. It is believed that about 5,000 people died in the attack.

"Iraqi jets swooped over Halabja and for five hours sprayed it with a lethal cocktail of mustard gas and the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX."

Jim Muir, BBC Baghdad correspondent said that for both the Kurds and the Shias, "Chemical" Ali Hassan al-Majid personified the evils of Saddam Hussein's regime almost as much as Saddam himself.

"His hanging could be seen as helping national reconciliation and the closing of an ugly chapter," said Muir. "But Sunnis, who were empowered under Saddam and among whom many have felt disenfranchised since his overthrow, may see Majid's demise as an act of revenge rather than one of justice."

Majid was "executed by hanging until death," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement.

When I heard this news today, it brought back memories of an interview I did last year with Kurdish leader, Dr. Saman Shali, in the cemetery in Halabja where many of the Kurds were buried.

Dr. Shali, who was born in the city of Sulaimaniya in the east of Iraqi Kurdistan, and a co-founder of a group called World's Women for Life, had helped bring a delegation of Christians, Jews and Muslims, from the United States and Australia, to the scene of one of the worst atrocities of the Saddam Hussein regime.

As we stood in the cemetery, I asked Dr. Shali, a member of Kurdish National Congress of North America, to describe the terrible events that had taken place in Halabja, which is close to the Iranian border.

"On March 16, 1988, Saddam Hussein used poison gas on the city of Halabja and killed instantly some 5,000 women, children and the elderly," he began fighting back the tears. "After that, over 10,000 people suffered from the side effect of the gassing of the city.

"Today, we are in the cemetery which symbolizes those who are died during this terrible event. On each grave are the names of family members who died."

I asked Dr. Shali, who is now living with his family back in Kurdistan, why Saddam Hussein so hated the Kurdish people.
"Saddam Hussein was angry with the Kurds -- and this city specifically -- because Halabja represented a rebellion against his authority and so he wanted to teach a lesson to the city and also to the Kurdish people, so he put his evil act on this one city and he bombarded it with chemical warfare. After this, he then started to also bombard other cities around the Kurdish area."

How many died in total in all the attacks?

Shocking reconstruction of the Halabja poison gas killings in a museum in the city (Photo: Dan Wooding)

"It is estimated that around 12,000 or more died in all the Kurdish cities he attacked," said Dr. Shali. I then asked him how he felt being at the scene of such savagery.

"It makes me sad, but at the same times, it also brings me hope that we could turn this sad event into one where our delegation can help 'celebrate life' and hope that this atrocity will never again happen to any nation anywhere in the world," he said.

"As human beings, we have to come together to stop the use of chemical weapons everywhere and ban them for good. We hope that this tragedy will be recognized as a 'genocide' against the Kurdish people. We all need to work to advance this cause to ban chemical weapons and also help bring the 'culture of life' to a world where the 'culture of death' is so prevalent."

Dr. Shali went on to say, "We hope that we learn from this atrocity that nobody can take it into their hands to finish off humanity and be so evil to have control of the lives of people in this way. So, altogether, we have come here and we hope that as we 'celebrate life' and bring hope to people everywhere in the world, and also we can stick to our faith -- our true value as human beings -- and we can make changes everywhere in the lives of humanity."

I concluded by asking Dr. Shali what he would have liked to have said to Saddam Hussein before he died, and he replied, "I would have said to him, 'Look what you have done. But it didn't work. The hopes and aspirations of the people cannot die. You brought the dark clouds to this city and you thought that the clouds would stay forever, but look at it now. The sun continues to rise each day, the green fields are out, and there is hope everywhere."

Note: You can see the video interview that Dan Wooding did with Dr. Shali by going to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBEGWnwMZKE

I would like to thank Robin Frost for transcribing the interview with Dr. Shali.

Dan Wooding is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. danjuma1@aol.com.