November 19, 2002
"DANISH SCUM!"*:
War crimes arrest blow to Iraqi opposition (Richard Beeston, November 20, 2002 , Times of London)DANISH police arrested last night an exiled Iraqi general tipped as a possible replacement for President Saddam Hussein. He faces charges that he was responsible for killing thousands of Kurds in a chemical weapons attack 14 years ago.The arrest of General Nizar Khazraji, the former Iraqi Chief-of-Staff and the most senior officer to defect from Baghdad, appeared to wreck any chances that he might lead a mutiny in the Armed Forces and help to topple Saddam's regime. [...]
General Khazraji, 64, commanded the Iraqi Armed Forces during the Iran-Iraq War, when Baghdad used banned poison gas against Iranian troops and Kurdish civilians. In the most notorious incident 5,000 Kurds in the town of Halabja were killed when Iraqi artillery and warplanes bombed the area with nerve gas and mustard gas. [...]
Iraqi opposition sources said last night that his arrest was a serious blow to their efforts to build a credible alternative to Saddam’s regime. Next month they hope to convene a conference in London for 350 Iraqi exiles as a first step to establishing an alternative government.General Khazraji could have played an important role, particularly on security and military matters.
"His arrest is a major setback for us," one opposition figure said. "He is a man with credibility back home. His arrest will make it that much harder to encourage other officers to defect if they fear that they will be charged, too."
If he was responsible then he should face charges, but this arrest, coming at this time, seems almost intended to prevent Saddam's officer corps from considering mutiny. Additional American lives could be lost if ranking Iraqis see no upside for themselves in overthrowing Saddam. The Danes needn't risk their own lives to liberate Iraq, but they ought to have sense enough not to risk our guys lives like this.
Posted by Orrin Judd at November 19, 2002 10:54 PM
The REALLY funny thing about this is that there is this cadre of folks, Eric Mauro for one, who have been beating the drum that the Iraqis never fired the chemical weapons at Halabja. Instead, citing some articles in Parameters (the journal of the US Army War College) and elsewhere, they argue that the Halabja case was, in fact, the work of the Iranians.
What this arrest raises, as a question , is whether this claim is, in fact, true. If the Danes considered Khazraji sufficiently incriminated as to arrest him, then Saddam did indeed gas Halabja, and the Left's argument that this was actually an Iranian crime is at an end.
Conversely, of course, if he didn't do it, then hopefully he will be released soon, to serve as a potential replacement for Saddam.
Even if he is responsible, Saddam ordered it, would have assassinated anyone who failed to execute his orders, and was most responsible. We should finish the overthrow of Saddam, then give Khazraji credit for his work against Saddam.
In my mind, if he leads an effort against Saddam, he will become a hero. For the Danes to attack Khazraji now that he is working against Saddam is to be active abetters of Saddam's murders.