vox
22nd September 2002, 21:12
Since the Bush administration seems intent on "regime change" in Iraq, one obvious question, not addressed in the corporate US media, is who will be installed in Iraq to lead this new regime?
The Sunday Herald (Scotland) looked into this and came up with a few names (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0922-02.htm), including General Nizar Al-Khazraji, who "(a)ccording to many human rights groups, he is the field commander who led the 48-hour chemical weapons attack which poisoned and burned 5000 Kurdish civilians in the northern town of Halabja in March 1988. He also, alleges one credible eyewitness who testified in video-taped evidence earlier this year, kicked a little Kurdish child to death after his forces entered a village during the height of the Iraqi repression in 1988.
"But, says Ambassador David Mack, a senior official in the US State Department who co-ordinates meetings of Iraqi opposition groups in Washington DC, General Nizar al-Khazraji has 'a good military reputation' and 'the right ingredients' as a future leader in Iraq."
Also mentioned is Brigadier-General Najib Al-Salihi, who "played a significant military role in Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. He was also engaged in putting down the uprising against Saddam 's rule that followed the defeat at the hands of the US-led forces. The repressive way in which this particular episode was handled caused 1.5 million people to flee their homes, while Salihi went on to write a book about his crushing of the popular uprising, entitled Al-Zilzal, 'The Earthquake'."
Anyone interested should definitely take the time to read this article, and force the issue into any debate about the wisdom of a US attack on Iraq.
vox
The Sunday Herald (Scotland) looked into this and came up with a few names (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0922-02.htm), including General Nizar Al-Khazraji, who "(a)ccording to many human rights groups, he is the field commander who led the 48-hour chemical weapons attack which poisoned and burned 5000 Kurdish civilians in the northern town of Halabja in March 1988. He also, alleges one credible eyewitness who testified in video-taped evidence earlier this year, kicked a little Kurdish child to death after his forces entered a village during the height of the Iraqi repression in 1988.
"But, says Ambassador David Mack, a senior official in the US State Department who co-ordinates meetings of Iraqi opposition groups in Washington DC, General Nizar al-Khazraji has 'a good military reputation' and 'the right ingredients' as a future leader in Iraq."
Also mentioned is Brigadier-General Najib Al-Salihi, who "played a significant military role in Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. He was also engaged in putting down the uprising against Saddam 's rule that followed the defeat at the hands of the US-led forces. The repressive way in which this particular episode was handled caused 1.5 million people to flee their homes, while Salihi went on to write a book about his crushing of the popular uprising, entitled Al-Zilzal, 'The Earthquake'."
Anyone interested should definitely take the time to read this article, and force the issue into any debate about the wisdom of a US attack on Iraq.
vox