Edward Teague, 6 Albury Drive, Rochdale, OL12 7SX tel 01706 861552
You might be interested in this.
The Dog that doesn’t want to bark
The
mass murder by gassing at Halabja ws a horrific event which burns in the
memory, (History News Network
for more details ) 14
years after the event and nearly one year before the illegal invasion of Iraq,
the BBC reported the memorial
service commemorating the killings.
Sunday,
17 March, 2002, 07:05 GMT
Iraqi
Kurds recall chemical attack By
the BBC's Hiwa Osman
Iraq's Kurdish region
came to a standstill at 11 am on Saturday to observe a five-minute silence in
memory of those killed by Iraq's chemical weapons attack in the Kurdish city of
Halabja 14 years ago.
Iraqi aircraft shelled
Halabja with chemical weapons on 16 March 1988, in an attack which left 5,000
dead and 7,000 injured or with long-term illnesses.
In the run up to the
invasion, the “gassing of his own people”, figured largely in the demonisation
of Saddam Hussein.
"Saddam Hussein is a man who is willing to gas his own people, willing to use weapons of mass destruction against Iraq citizens. "--President Bush, March 22, 2002
"As he said, any person that would gas his own people is a threat to the world."--Scott McClellan, White House spokesman, May 31, 2002
The famous Dossier introduced by
Tony Blair stated “In 1988 Saddam also used mustard and nerve agents against
Iraqi Kurds at Halabja in northern Iraq . “Estimates vary but according to Human
Rights Watch up to 5,000 people were killed.” The gassing has been a constant
reference by political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic and of all
political persuasions.
No doubt these politicians , so horrified by this act of genocide against the Kurdish nation were quietly satisfied when they learned of the arrest of a small time dodgy chemical dealer who had supplied a chemical precursor to mustard gas used in the killings.
A Google News search
7th December 2004 throws up 186 news stories related to..
The arrest by Dutch police in Amsterdam of Frans van Anraat (62), a chemicals
dealer. Wim de Bruin of the national prosecutor’s office is reported as he will
face charges “for violating the laws of war and involvement in genocide”, and
other war crimes for supplying Saddam Hussein’s regime with lethal chemicals
that were used in the 1988 chemical attack on the Kurdish town of
Halabja.
The man had been arrested in
Milan in 1989 at the request of the US and after release fled to Iraq where he
remained until early 2003 returning to the Netherlands via Syria after the US
led invasion.
Prosecutors
said the man had been a suspect since 1989, when he was arrested in Milan,
Italy, at the request of the US government. But he was later released and fled
to Iraq, where he remained until 2003. After the US-led invasion in March 2003,
he returned to the Netherlands via Syria. The UN say 36 separate shipments, of
materials including raw materials for nerve gas and mustard gas (Thiodyglycol, used in the release of
mustard gas in munitions has uses in the textile industry is cited ) originating
from the United States (a company Alcolac based in Brazoria, Texas , also stated to
be based in based out of Baltimore, Maryland , was the
alleged supplier) and
Japan were made via Antwerp, Belgium, through Aqaba in
Jordan before reaching Iraq.
(For
the full and very detailed story of the shipments see PBS
transcript Sept 11th
1990 (yes that’s September 11th)
"Fugitive
Involved in Illegal Export of Chemical is Caught," The Baltimore Sun, 15
November 1994, p. 2B(.Not online)
Peter
Walascheck is arrested by Croatian officials for making illegal attempts to
supply chemical weapons to Iran in the late 1980s. Walascheck, a German
national, fled to Croatiafrom the US
in 1988 after he pleaded guilty to trying to organize a deal with the
Baltimore-based Alcolac Inc. to ship thiodyglycol.
The
FBI Wanted List May 25th
2000 Peter
WALASCHEK and Frans Van ANRAAT
DESCRIPTION:
Peter Walaschek is a German citizen born on November 14, 1942, in Brno, the
Czech Republic. He is 182 centimeters in height and weighs 82 kilograms. He is a
white male with gray hair, brown eyes, and a medium build. He wears eyeglasses
and speaks German and English. He may be using the name Peter Loimi. In recent
years he has visited Singapore, Iran, and Croatia.
Frans
Cornelis Andrianus Van Anraat is a citizen of the Netherlands, born in Den
Helder on August 9, 1942. He is a white male, 178 centimeters in height, and has
graying hair. He wears eyeglasses and may have a full beard. He speaks Dutch,
Italian, and English. He has visited Switzerland, Italy, and the Netherlands in
recent years. He is now in Baghdad, Iraq.
Investigations
have been undertaken in the US, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Jordan and witnesses interviewed in Britain,
Denmark, Jordan and the Netherlands.
No
date has been set for Anraat’s trial. Saddam Hussein is held
(location unknown) by the US after being arraigned on July 1 in Baghdad on wide
charges that include the killings in Halabja.
Profile
BBC 28/9/02 is an online
profile of General Nizar Al-Kazraji.
General
Nizar AlKazraji was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Today programme in Copenhagen on
September 18th 2002.
This
is part of an online pres release from Amnesty at the time..
AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL
PRESS
RELEASE
Denmark/Iraq:
International Justice for the victims of Halabja
Under
universal jurisdiction legislation, the Danish authorities have charged Nizar
al-Khazraji, a former head of the Iraqi armed forces, with war crimes in
connection with the mass killings of Iraqi Kurds and other violations of
international humanitarian law in 1988.
"This criminal investigation
is a step forward for the survivors and families of the victims of the chemical
weapon attacks on Iraqi Kurds in Halabja, northern Iraq, in 1998 in their quest
for justice," Amnesty international said.
"If such an investigation shows
there is enough evidence for a prosecution, then, in accordance with
international law, the national courts of any state are under an obligation to
try people accused of such crimes, regardless of the nationality of the alleged
perpetrators or victims and regardless of where the crimes were committed , "
Amnesty International added.
Commanders must be held accountable for
ordering crimes or failing to act to prevent them or stop them.
In the
context of the Iraq-Iran war, on 16 and 17 March 1988 an estimated 5,000 people
were deliberately killed and thousands wounded as a result of chemical weapon
attacks by Iraqi forces on the town of Halabja, near Sulaimaniya, reportedly
after Kurdish armed opposition forces had entered the town. Most of the victims
were civilians, many of them children and women. The Iraqi Government denied
responsibility for the incident and stated that Iranian forces had carried out
the killings. In August of the same year hundreds of unarmed Kurdish civilians
were deliberately killed and thousands wounded when Iraqi armed forces attacked
Kurdish villages in the north.
Eli
Lake The
Weekly Standard 24th December 2001
”The
State Department, too, has tried to enlist Khazraji in the opposition. In 1999,
the State Department's coordinator for an Iraqi transition, Frank Ricciardone,
attempted to contact him through third parties, even recommending Khazraji for a
military commission with the Iraqi National Congress, the American-funded
opposition group led by Ahmad Chalabi.”
At
the time of the BBC interview (Sept 2002) of the General It
was claimed he was close to Wafiq – al – Samara’I ex head of Military
Intelligence who defected and who lived in London. They are both said to have
strong Saudi contacts.
Brigadier-General
Najib
Al-Salihi a “rapidly rising star” was another ex
army pal. He had meetings with the UK Foreign Office in March 2002 when Robin Cook was Foreign Secretary..
Al-Salahi was Commander
of an armoured division of Iraq's elite Republican Guard in the Gulf war, and
played a major military role in Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
He
was major force in putting down the Shia uprising against Saddam 's rule after
defeat at the hands of the US-led forces. This repressive way in which this particular
episode was handled caused 1.5 million people to flee their homes, the number
slaughtered is unknown. Salihi went on to write a book about his crushing
of the popular uprising, entitled Al-Zilzal, 'The Earthquake'.
After
leaving Iraq in 1995, Salihi defected to the side of his former enemies and
began to co-operate with the US, where he recently lived. He headed the CIA-
sponsored (and heavily funded)
Iraqi Free Officers Movement.
Iraqi Crisis report 6th May 2003
Julie Flint writes :
“Although
US officials have denied any hand in the vanishing of Gen. Nizar Khazraji, Iraqi
opposition figures close to the US administration say he was taken secretly from
the Danish town of Soroe by agents of the Central Intelligence Agency in the
hope that he could convince key units of the Iraqi army, which he once
commanded, to surrender without a fight.
As
British and American forces drove towards Baghdad in late March and early April,
Khazraji was reported sighted in Turkey, northern Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi opposition figure who is close to the Pentagon, said
Khazraji worked "for a while" with US Central Command.
The
war over, an Arab news agency, al-Bawaba, claimed that Khazraji had been
assassinated on his way to an opposition meeting with Gen. Jay Garner and US
envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in the southern Iraqi town of Nasiriya. But the report
was never confirmed”
And
with remarkable foresight suggests…
“The
concern now is that Khazraji may emerge, sooner or later, as a player in the
new, US-controlled Iraq. Since a first contact with the US State Department late
in 2001, he has been backed both by the State Department and the CIA to serve as
a post-Saddam leader in Iraq.”
Seymour
Hersh writing in the New Yorker in March 2002, said: "The CIA's brightest
prospect, officials told me, is Nizar Khazraji."
Al
– Hayat a London based and highly respected paper quotes Iraqi opposition
sources in Damascus saying Khazrhani is “most favoured candidate”.
Amid
Tahiri in the Arab
News 30th October 2004 –
“The
interim government cites the fact that the Iraqi Army refused to fight in last
year’s war as evidence that most officers had broken with Saddam. Several former
generals of Saddam’s army are already back.
They
include Amer Al-Hashemi, a Sunni,
as chief of staff and a Shiite, Lt-Gen. Daham al-Assal, 63, as his deputy. Gen.
Abu-Bakar Zibari, a Kurd, has been retained as chief military advisor. Also
advising the new government are several senior officers who had broken with
Saddam and joined the opposition in the 1990s. They include Gen. Nizar
Al-Khazraji, Najib Al-Salhi, and Wafiq Al-Samarrai.
“Here
we are working for Iraq,” says one of the returning officers. “What we
experience today is a passing moment in Iraq’s long history. The occupation has
officially ended, and the occupiers will go home. Iraq, however, shall remain.
And Iraqis shall remain. And they shall need peace and security.”
OLD
BOYS RE-UNION
There
he is, Kazraji and his old pals
Wafiq Al-Samarrai ex Head of Military Intelligence under Saddam back in harness.
Najib Al-Salhi the man who led the suppression of the post Gulf War uprising of
the Shia is back there as well. A bloodthirsty troika.
The
curious thing is that whilst the BBC have reported the arrest in Holland of the
supplier of a component of the chemicals that were the precursors of the gas
used at Halabja the General responsible for the Anfal and the gassing is now
working with the Coalition of the Willing – along with his old pals from the
Baghdad Officers Mess. They are in the country where the crime was committed,
there are laws passed for a Tribunal to try people for war crimes before the
invasion,under which Saddam Hussein will (eventually ?) be charged.
I
have written about this (4 days ago)
to Helen Boaden who is Head
of all BBC news output helen.boaden@bbc.co.uk and await a
reply. Here is a major news story,
a coup. A small time operator is arrested for supplying a precursor chemical for
mustard gas which may or may not have been used at Halabja – news flashes around
the world. Yet the BBC now know, that the man they interviewed in September
2002, the man responsible for and charged with war crimes is working for the
Coalition of the Willing – along with some more of his army pals who were
responsible for the deaths of countless thousands of their countrymen.
Now
the BBC have correspondents, in Iraq, the US, access to Ministers, the MOD, The
Embassy in Bhagdad. They are of course in the middle of worrying about being
made redundant in 2009 maybe, but here is a world class news story.
Silence.
Now,
to date I haven’t had an acknowledgement, or reply from the BBC. You may like to
write and ask them – like Crimewatch, you could help apprehend a war criminal.
You don’t get the chance every day.
You
might like to add your voice or indeed e-mail to any of these BBC sites…
Helen Boaden, Director of BBC
news
helen.boaden@bbc.co.uk
Roger Mosey, Head of BBC TV News
roger.mosey@bbc.co.uk
Richard
Sambrook, Director of the
World Service and Global News
richard.sambrook@bbc.co.uk
Malcolm Balen, Senior Editorial Adviser (Middle
East)
malcolm.balen@bbc.co.uk
Kevin
Bakhurst,
Editor, Ten O'Clock News, BBC1
kevin.bakhurst@bbc.co.uk
Mark Popescu, Editor, BBC News 24
mark.popescu@bbc.co.uk
Peter Barron, Editor, Newsnight, BBC 2
peter.barron@bbc.co.uk
Kevin Marsh, Editor, Today Programme, Radio
4
kevin.marsh.01@bbc.co.uk