Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
November 30, 2007
Pg. 8
Al-Maliki asks Bush to hand over former officials
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Iraq's prime minister asked President Bush to hand over Saddam Hussein's cousin, known as "Chemical Ali," and two other former officials sentenced to hang for the 1986-88 crackdown against the Kurds, two government officials said Thursday.
The formal request from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki could strain relations with U.S. officials, who have refused to surrender the men, and incite a backlash from Sunni Arabs.
Former military commander Ali Hassan al-Majid, former defense minister Sultan Hashim al-Taie and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, who had served as deputy director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces, were convicted in June of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. They were then sentenced to death for their part in a crackdown that killed nearly 200,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas two decades ago.
An appeals court upheld the verdict in September, and under Iraqi law the executions were to have taken place within a month.
The three men are in U.S. custody and their execution date is on hold in response to a struggle between al-Maliki and the Sunni vice president that has taken on special significance for Iraq's Sunni Arabs, some of whom want al-Taie's death sentence commuted. Al-Taie signed the cease-fire with U.S.-led forces that ended the 1991 Gulf War.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and parliamentary Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also a Sunni, say al-Taie's life should be spared in a gesture of national reconciliation.
The U.S. military has said it wants Iraqi leadership to resolve the dispute before it hands over the men.
Al-Maliki's letter to Bush, which the two Iraqi government officials said was given to the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday, demanded that they be handed over immediately.
The officials, both of whom had seen the letter, spoke on condition of anonymity because its contents were not public. U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo would not say whether such a letter had been sent.
In the letter, al-Maliki accused unnamed politicians of interfering in the legal process for personal reasons. He also said Sunni politicians had no right under Iraqi law to pardon or ease the sentences of people convicted of crimes against humanity and condemned, the officials told the Associated Press.
November 30, 2007
Pg. 8
Al-Maliki asks Bush to hand over former officials
By Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Iraq's prime minister asked President Bush to hand over Saddam Hussein's cousin, known as "Chemical Ali," and two other former officials sentenced to hang for the 1986-88 crackdown against the Kurds, two government officials said Thursday.
The formal request from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki could strain relations with U.S. officials, who have refused to surrender the men, and incite a backlash from Sunni Arabs.
Former military commander Ali Hassan al-Majid, former defense minister Sultan Hashim al-Taie and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, who had served as deputy director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces, were convicted in June of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. They were then sentenced to death for their part in a crackdown that killed nearly 200,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas two decades ago.
An appeals court upheld the verdict in September, and under Iraqi law the executions were to have taken place within a month.
The three men are in U.S. custody and their execution date is on hold in response to a struggle between al-Maliki and the Sunni vice president that has taken on special significance for Iraq's Sunni Arabs, some of whom want al-Taie's death sentence commuted. Al-Taie signed the cease-fire with U.S.-led forces that ended the 1991 Gulf War.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and parliamentary Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also a Sunni, say al-Taie's life should be spared in a gesture of national reconciliation.
The U.S. military has said it wants Iraqi leadership to resolve the dispute before it hands over the men.
Al-Maliki's letter to Bush, which the two Iraqi government officials said was given to the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday, demanded that they be handed over immediately.
The officials, both of whom had seen the letter, spoke on condition of anonymity because its contents were not public. U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo would not say whether such a letter had been sent.
In the letter, al-Maliki accused unnamed politicians of interfering in the legal process for personal reasons. He also said Sunni politicians had no right under Iraqi law to pardon or ease the sentences of people convicted of crimes against humanity and condemned, the officials told the Associated Press.