Ali Reduced to Chemicals

Written by Eric Olsen
Published April 07, 2003

Okay it's a little Darwinian, or maybe a lot Darwinian, but I have this vision similar to the sequence in the Godfather where all of the enemies of the Corleones are wiped out with admirable if bloody efficiency: Saddam (if he is alive), Osama (if he is alive and we ever find his cave-dwelling ass), NoKo's Kim, other al Qaeda murderers, etc., all simultaneously vaporized with pinpoint missile strikes like Chemical Ali:

    Ali Hassan al-Majid, one of the most brutal members of President Saddam Hussein's inner circle, was apparently killed by an airstrike on his house in Basra, British officials said Monday. He had been dubbed "Chemical Ali" by opponents for ordering a 1988 poison gas attack that killed thousands of Kurds.

    ....Al-Majid apparently was killed on Saturday when two coalition aircraft used laser-guided munitions to attack his house in Basra. Jackson said a body that was thought to be his was found along with that of his bodyguard and the head of Iraqi intelligence services in Basra.

    ....Jackson said the apparent discovery of al-Majid's body was one of the reasons the British decided to move infantry into Basra, because they hoped that resistance in the southern Iraqi city might crumble with the top leadership gone.

    "The regime is finished. It is over, and liberation is here," said Group Capt. Al Lockwood, spokesman for British forces in the Gulf. "The leadership is now gone in southern Iraq."

    Believed to be in his fifties, al-Majid led a 1988 campaign against rebellious Kurds in northern Iraq in which whole villages were wiped out. An estimated 100,000 Kurds, mostly civilians, were killed. [AP]

Look at that smug prick in the photos; too bad there isn't a pic of the look on his face just prior to his eradication. Al Jazeera could show it over and over again, interposed with shots of 100,000 dead civilian Kurds.

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and publisher of Blogcritics.org, which, quite frankly, rules - as do his wife and four children.
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Ali Reduced to Chemicals
Published: April 07, 2003
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Section: Politics
Writer: Eric Olsen
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Comments

#1 — April 7, 2003 @ 15:04PM — Brian Flemming [URL]

Yes, there is something seductive about efficient brutality. It takes care of all of your problems in one fell swoop.

In the Godfather, we identify with one band of murderous criminals over another. So when our band of murderous criminals goes on a kick-ass rampage, we feel joy.

I could definitely see United States popular opinion going in this direction, given the present state of emotion here and the willingness of the White House to exploit it.

Nobody ever said mass killing wasn't satisfying to those doing the killing. It always feels right to the killers.

#2 — April 7, 2003 @ 15:14PM — Eric Olsen

Uh, I'm not sure it always feels right to the killers unless there is ample justification, but your point is well-taken.

#3 — April 7, 2003 @ 16:28PM — Brian Flemming [URL]

Eric,

Uh, I'm not sure it always feels right to the killers unless there is ample justification...


I don't think "always" is an overstatement. Can you find an example of mass killing in which those ordering the killing felt they were doing wrong?

#4 — June 4, 2006 @ 05:52AM — History of the Kurds [URL]

Check out this introduction article on History of the Kurds

Content:
1.Early history
2.Kurds under the Arabs
3.Ottoman and Safavid period
4.Modern history

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