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Henry B. Gonzalez Knew About "Chemical Ali"

BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by Margie Burns

Today’s Iraq news includes the capture of so-called "Chemical Ali," the "king of spades" or "number 5 in the deck" of 55 wanted Iraqi notables. Too bad American and Iraqi lives were sacrificed in the effort. It would have been easy to catch "chemical Ali" back under the first Bush administration, which knew of his activities and tolerated him, and them.

As the heroic, late congressman Henry B. Gonzalez pointed out, Ali Hassan al-Majid was on the short list of Iraqi front entities with which the US under then-President Bush was in the habit of doing dangerous business.

As of March 27, 1992, the Office of Foreign Assets Control listed [LINK] more than 90 "Front Companies and Foreign Representatives of the Government of Iraq," giving names of representatives for each and address (country) where available. The list was public record, available to elected officials including Bush. Names 17 and 18 on the list [scroll down] are, respectively, Ali Hassan Al-Majid and his nephew Hussein Kamel Hassan Al-Majid (a son-in-law of Saddam Hussein’s, later executed by Saddam, reportedly under Ali’s supervision).

On August 10, 1992, Gonzalez introduced the "Front Companies" list into the Congressional Record. For his few fellow legislators present, he also clarified the geopolitical issues placing the list in context. This hour-long "Special Order" speech was one of several that Gonzalez produced with dignified integrity in the House of Representatives. (He won the John F. Kennedy Library’s Profile in Courage award in 1994, partly for his "Iraqgate" investigations.)

In the speech, Gonzalez pointed out the widespread knowledge in other countries of Saddam’s activities; the extensive trade with Saddam by American companies and companies in Europe; the part that US financing and the CIA had played in Saddam’s buildup; and the close involvement of the Reagan and senior Bush administrations in supporting Saddam. (Donald Rumsfeld went to Baghdad and engaged in his famous handshake with Saddam, videotaped, in 1983.) Along with the list of officially recognized Iraqi front entities, Gonzalez also named several others widely known as Iraqi-owned but not yet on the official list. He also pointed out that the Reagan and Bush administrations, eager to do business with oil-rich Iraqis and Kuwaitis, had never moved legislation to provide a certification process for Iraqi corporations wanting to establish branches in the US. (US corporations, on the other hand, did have to go through a certification process with the Iraqi government, to set up shop in Iraq.)

By the time Gonzalez delivered this address, the Reagan and Bush administrations had already been aware for some time that, in the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam had bombed at least 5,000 insurgent Kurds with a lethal mixture of poison gas. Under pressure from congressional Democrats, Saddam’s responsibility for this violation of international law had been publicly acknowledged. (Reagan first tried to blame the gassing of the Kurds on Iran.)

The intelligence community, and anyone else informed on the topic, was aware of "Chemical Ali’s" family connections and political connections to Saddam. [LINK] No one, however, brought him into the international justice system; no one in this country or in the other Gulf nations, our allies, put him out of business.

The Honorable Henry B. Gonzalez’ remarks also included the following:

"Before I go on, I just wanted to make a couple of comments regarding the Attorney General's decision not to appoint an independent counsel. I feel that Attorney General William Barr is attempting to lock any door that might lead to a full exposition of the Bush administration's involvement in the buildup of Iraq prior to the invasion of Kuwait. First, the Attorney General denounced and obstructed congressional investigations, and now he blocks inquiries by a special counsel.

Mr. Barr is playing a dangerous political game in a desperate effort to protect the Bush administration."

"The American people--who have sent troops and billions of dollars into the Persian Gulf--have every right to know the facts about the policies and the aid and comfort provided Saddam Hussein by the administration."

"Attorney General Barr is misusing his office and damaging the integrity of the Justice Department in blocking both congressional and independent investigations. He may well regard himself as the President's lawyer, but his oath of office requires that he also protect the public's interest--and in this case the interests of the President and the public do not coincide. When such a conflict exists, it is the clear duty of the Attorney General to choose the public's interest above political considerations just as some of his more distinguished predecessors did."

Does any of this sound familiar?

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY

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Margie Burns, a native Texan, writes freelance in DC. She can be reached at margie.burns@verizon.net.