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U.S. Official Claims Saddam Hussein Used Poison Gas Against “Hundreds of Thousands” of Iraqis
U.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes today justified the Iraq war to Muslim students in Indonesia by saying former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein used poison gas against “hundreds of thousands” of his own people, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 29). “The consensus of the world intelligence community was that Saddam was a very dangerous threat,” she told the students, days after Hussein went on trial for the deaths of 143 people in an Iraqi city. “After all, he had used weapons of mass destruction against his own people. He had murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people using poison gas.” Hughes did not give supporting evidence for this estimate. About 5,000 people are believed to have died in a 1988 chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja, according to AP. When asked to offer details of her claims, Hughes said, “I know it was upward of 200,000. I think it was almost 300,000. (That) is my recollection. They were put in mass graves” (Chris Brummitt, Associated Press, Oct. 21).
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