Al-Majid, who had headed the then-ruling Baath Party's Northern Bureau Command in the 1980s, stood silently for Sunday's verdict and said, ''Thanks be to God,'' as he was led from court.These thugs have gotten what they deserved.
Two others sentenced to hang for anti-Kurdish atrocities were former defense minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, a former deputy director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces.
Interrupting the judge as the verdict was read, Mohammed said the defendants were defending Iraq against Kurdish rebels. ''God bless our martyrs. Long live the brave Iraqi army. Long live Iraq. Long live the Baath party and long live Arab nations,'' he declared.
Two other former regime officials -- Sabir al-Douri, former director of military intelligence, and Farhan Mutlaq Saleh, who was head of military intelligence's eastern regional office -- were sentenced to life in prison. All charges were dropped against Taher Tawfiq al-Ani, a former governor of Mosul, because of insufficient evidence.
In the northern Kurdish city of Halabja, where an estimated 5,000 died in a chemical attack in 1988, people gathered Sunday in a small rally at the cemetery.
''We thank God that we have lived to see our enemies being punished for all of the atrocities they have committed against our people,'' said Lukman Abdul-Qader, head of the Halabja Chemical Attack Victims' Society.
UPDATE:
Gateway Pundit displays some of Chemical Ali's gruesome handiwork - the victims of the chemical attacks, including mothers clutching their babies as they fell trying to outrun the gassings.
Others noting the judgment rendered on Chemical Ali: Sweetness and Light, Doctor Bulldog, Right Wing Champ, GOP Bloggers, The Jawa Report, and Aubrey J.
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