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'Chemical Ali' in U.S. custody

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington Aug. 21. The United States military has announced the arrest of Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of the former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein. The former high-ranking Iraqi official, who had served the regime and Mr. Hussein in different capacities, had been nicknamed "Chemical Ali" for his lead role in the poison gas attacks on the Kurds.

The United States Central Command in Tampa, Florida, has released no further details on the arrest of Mr. Al Majid except that he was taken into custody several days ago. The former top Iraqi official was Number 5 in the deck of cards issued by the American military on the 55 most wanted list of Iraqis. He was the King of Spades.

Considered as one of the members of Mr. Hussein's inner circle, Mr. Al Majid was a General, a Presidential adviser, commander of the ruling Baath Party regional command and member of the Revolutionary Command Council. He was seen as the de-facto Governor of Kuwait after Iraq's invasion of that country in 1990. This April coalition authorities put out word that Mr. Al Majid had been killed in an air attack on his house; but this was subsequently retracted by none other than the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Richard Myers, who said that based on information provided by Iraqi prisoners, Mr. Al Majid may be alive.

Suspicion was that Mr. Al Majid might have been in hiding in the Tikrit area. The Pentagon has come out with the news of Mr. Al Majid's arrest a few days after another top former official, the Iraq's former Vice-President, Taha Yasin Ramadan, was turned in by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan which said that its forces picked up the former Vice-President in Mosul.

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