|
BAGHDAD, Iraq –
Saddam Hussein ordered plans drawn up for a chemical
weapons attack on Kurdish guerrilla bases in
Kurdistan (northern Iraq) in 1987, according to a
letter signed by his personal secretary that is
among documents recently declassified by the U.S.
military.
The documents – a series of memos between Saddam's
office, the military intelligence service and the
army chief of staff found by U.S. troops in Iraq –
do not say whether the attack was carried out.
But a doctor who traveled with Kurdish troops at the
time says some of them were injured in a mustard gas
attack 10 days after the last memo.
The disclosure, as Saddam's trial on unrelated
murder and torture charges is under way, could shed
new light on the killings of Kurds that the former
Iraqi leader might be tried for in the future.
Although Saddam has long been blamed for chemical
attacks known to have been conducted by Iraq's
military during the 1980-88 war with Iran, the memos
are some of the first documents to be made public
that appear to directly link Saddam to the use of
such arms, which has been banned by international
treaty since the 1920s.
President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq after
citing, among other reasons, charges that Saddam's
regime was hiding weapons of mass destruction, but
no such weapons were found after his ouster in April
2003. Iraq's weapons of mass destruction appear to
have been destroyed by U.N. experts following the
1991 Gulf War.
The memos are among hundreds of documents gathered
by the U.S. military since the invasion of Iraq that
are now being declassified.
The U.S. military cautioned on its Web site that the
government “has made no determination regarding the
authenticity of the documents, validity or factual
accuracy of the information contained therein.”
The planned attack outlined in the documents appears
to have been part of the 1987-88 Anfal campaign that
killed more than 180,000 Kurds and demolished
hundreds of Kurdish villages in northern Iraq. In
the most notorious attack, Saddam's army bombed the
town of Halabja with mustard and nerve gas on March
16, 1988, killing an estimated 5,000 people.
The memos date to about a year before the Halabja
attack and concern an area about 120 miles to the
northwest. A March 11, 1987, report from Iraq's
military intelligence chief outlined a number of
bases for Kurdish rebels and Iranian troops in the
area.
Saddam's office responded with a March 12 letter
signed by his personal secretary, saying, “The
leader Mr. President has ordered that your
department study with experts a surprise attack with
special ammunition in the areas of Barzani's gangs
and the Khomeini Guards.”
“Special ammunition” is the phrase used throughout
Saddam's regime for chemical weapons. Later
documents in the series of memos mention
specifically the nerve agent sarin and mustard gas.
The order set off discussions among military
commanders over how best to use the weapons.
The military intelligence chief recommended in one
memo that any attack on the joint Kurdish-Iranian
bases be put off until June because snow in the area
would reduce the effect of sarin and mustard gas.
Then in a March 31 letter, the intelligence chief
recommended two alternative targets: Kurdish
guerrilla bases near the towns of Balisian and
Qaradagh, “considered suitable because they are in a
low-lying area, which helps chemical agent
sedimentation.”
It recommended using two-thirds of Iraq's stores of
sarin and a third of the stores of mustard gas and
said the attack could be done by mid-April.
A message from Saddam's office, signed by his
secretary, approved the strike.
Two final memos, dated April 5 and 6, from the chief
of military intelligence and the then army chief of
staff, Lt. Gen. Saadeddine Aziz Mustafa, ordered the
army's 1st and 5th corps to draw up plans for the
strike within days.
There were no documents saying the strike was
carried out.
However, Faiq Mohammed, a Kurdish doctor who
accompanied guerrillas in the north, told The
Associated Press on Sunday that warplanes dropped
mustard gas bombs on Balisian that April 16. A
number of Kurdish fighters were wounded, some of
whom Mohammed said he treated.
Mohammed, who now has a clinic in Sulaimaniyah and
heads a small group called the Kurdistan Solution
Party, said he heard of a similar attack in an area
called Balakjar near Qaradagh during the same
period.
According to the Washington-based Henry L. Stimson
Center think tank, there were two documented Iraqi
chemical weapons attacks in 1987. One was in April
in the southern province of Basra, killing or
wounding 5,000 Iranian soldiers.
The other was in October in the southeast province
of Wassit, killing or wounding 3,000 Iranians. Both
are far from the Kurdish regions of the north.
Saddam and seven of members of his regime are now on
trial for alleged involvement in the killing of 148
Shiite Muslims in a crackdown on the town of Dujail
in 1982 after a failed assassination attempt there
on the Iraqi leader. The case does not involve the
use of chemical weapons.
But Saddam and others are likely to go on trial
later for charges related to the Anfal campaign and
the Halabja gas attack, and prosecutors have said
they hold documents related to those charges.
Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid – better known
as Chemical Ali for overseeing the use of chemical
weapons on Kurds – commanded the Anfal campaign and
is now in U.S. custody.
None of the newly declassified documents appear to
bear Saddam's signature or mention al-Majid. The
approvals for the attack came from Saddam's office
and were signed by his secretary. The signature is
not legible, but the man who held the post at the
time was Hamed Youssef Hamadi, who is in custody and
was brought to testify last month in the Dujail
trial.
AP
Top |
® 