Council approves 'Chemical Ali' execution
Feb. 29, 2008 (UPI) -- Iraq's Presidency Council has approved the
execution of "Chemical Ali," the cousin of Saddam Hussein, an Iraq
official who cannot speak officially said.
A date for the hanging of Ali Hassan Majid has yet to be set, but must
be carried out within 30 days, the official told The Los Angeles
Times. The three-member Presidency Council approved only Majid's
execution, not his two co-defendants who also were convicted of
genocide and other crimes.
Supporters of Majid and his co-defendants argued the three were only
carrying out Saddam's orders when they gassed thousands of Kurds in
the 1980s.
Majid has been held by the United States, which refused to hand him
over until the council decided whether he would be hanged or
imprisoned.
Earlier this week, the Presidency Council -- made up of a Shiite, a
Sunni and a Kurd -- did not approve a law that would have established
provincial powers and begun the process for provincial elections. The
law was seen as critical to Iraq's reconciliation, the newspaper
reported Friday.
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/02/29/council_approves_chemical_ali_execution/6460/
Hanging? Why not the gas chamber? That would be a more appropriate
method for someone who killed as he did.
magnus
Ironically, they don't have one.
wd43
Actually, while poetically more appropriate, I suspect the difference
between being gassed to death in your homes or on the battlefield and being
gassed to death in a prison gas chamber are startlingly different.
Jim Beaver
a/k/a "Baghdad Bob", Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf
From Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Saeed_al-Sahhaf
Post-war life
On June 25, 2003, the London newspaper The Daily Mirror reported that
al-Sahhaf had been captured by coalition troops at a roadblock in Baghdad.
The report was not confirmed by military authorities and was denied by
al-Sahhaf's family through Abu Dhabi TV. The next day al-Sahaf himself
recorded an interview for the Dubai-based al-Arabiya news channel. Al-Sahhaf
said that he had surrendered to US forces and had been interrogated by them.
He was reportedly paid as much as $200,000 for the television interview,
during which he appeared very withdrawn in contrast with the bombastic
persona he projected during the war. Many of his answers consisted of a
simple "yes" or "no". He refused to speculate on the causes of the downfall
of the Iraqi government and answered only "history will tell" when asked if
video clips purporting to prove that Saddam Hussein was alive were genuine,
amid speculation at that time that Hussein had been killed during the war.
His fame quickly evaporated as the war continued into the "insurgency"
phase; from the middle of 2003 onward, he faded from the public spotlight,
and is no longer a figure in the war.
Although questioned by American authorities, al-Sahhaf was released, and
there has been no suggestion of charging or detaining him for his role in
the Saddam Hussein government. He is now living in the United Arab Emirates
with his family.
When asked where he had got his information he replied, "authentic
sources-many authentic sources".[5] He pointed out that he "was a
professional, doing his job".
That was Baghdad Bob.
He was caught after the war and was released. I recall he was upset that he
was released. He was not as important that he thought he was.
GO RED SOX
Mark