| Submit your comments on this article | |||
| Europe | |||
| Gen. Nizar al-Khazraji Vanishes in Demark | |||
| 2003-03-17 | |||
| A former Iraqi general under house arrest while Danish prosecutors investigate his alleged role in gas attacks on Kurds has disappeared, his son said Monday. The circumstances around former Gen. Nizar al-Khazraji's disappearance were murky and few details were released. He had been under house arrest in his adopted country of Denmark since November. House arrest, for a war criminal. Nice job, Demark. Prosecutor Birgitte Vestberg is investigating claims that al-Khazraji, a former Iraqi army chief of staff, was responsible for poison gas attacks in northern Iraq in 1988 that killed more than 5,000 Kurds. Al-Khazraji, 63, says Saddam Hussein, not he, controlled the chemical stockpiles, and some Kurdish opposition groups have defended the general. Al-Khazraji — an outspoken critic of Saddam — left Iraq in 1995 and has been living in Denmark since 1999. He has outlined plans for regime change under which the army would take over temporarily until a new government can be elected, and his name has surfaced as one of several potential interim leaders should Saddam be ousted. His son, Mohammad al-Khazraji, told The Associated Press that his father had stepped out of his home in Soroe, 60 miles southwest of the capital, Copenhagen, for an early morning cigarette and didn't return. He stepped out for a cigarette, isn't that a clear violation of the term of his house arrest? Let's ask the UN for a ruling. "We contacted the police and asked for their help to find him," Mohammed said. "It's a very bad situation and I'm very confused." You are most likely lying, too.
That worked real well, didn't it? Vestberg said she was not aware what happened to him and her investigation into his alleged crimes would continue. "He could have gotten ill on his walk and collapsed or he could have been abducted or he could have tried to leave the country on his own," she said. He could also be buried in that forest.
He's got that lawyer talk down pat, doesn't he? Under the Geneva Conventions, which calls for countries to prosecute or expel war criminals, Denmark is obligated to investigate claims he was involved in the poison gas attack. Did he take off on his own, did someone put the grab on him, or is he sleeping at the bottom of the North Sea? My money is on the latter, he would have been a good witness at a war crimes trial. | |||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 It's beginning to sound like that classic line from film noir... "Did he jump, or was he pushed?" Ed. |
| Posted by: Ed Becerra 2003-03-17 17:48:53 |
| #1 House arrest? Two days ago, a Federal judge released MSA/IANA terrorist, Sami Hussayen into house arrest, even though the DOJ indictment quotes a Hussayen post endorsement of crashing passenger planes into "enemy" buildings. The war-on-terror cannot be won if those without common purpose are allowed to undermine it. |
| Posted by: Anonon 2003-03-17 16:53:39 |