Former Saddam Official Claims Iran Gassed Kurds

A senior official in the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein testified yesterday in Baghdad that Iraq did not have the nerve agent prosecutors say was used to kill thousands of Kurds, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 12).

Former foreign minister and deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz told an Iraqi tribunal that there “was no genocide” against Iraqi Kurds, instead implying that Iran might have been behind the attack on the town Halabja that killed an estimated 5,600.  Prosecutors say the attack was part of the Hussein regime’s Operation Anfal campaign that systematically attacked Kurds in northern Iraq.

Aziz told the judges that Iran possessed chemical weapons during its war with Iraq from 1980 to 1988.  “You can check with experts,” he said, according to AP.

Aziz was a defense witness in the trial of six former Iraqi officials charged with crimes against humanity in connection with the Anfal campaign.  Included among the defendants is Ali Hassan al-Majid, who was also known as “Chemical Ali” for reportedly ordering the use of chemical weapons.

The defendants could be hanged if convicted (Associated Press/Los Angeles Times, March 6).

Back to top
About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines © Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.