'Chemical Ali' among latest Saddam aides questioned

BAGHDAD - Saddam Hussein's feared cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," has appeared before Iraq's special tribunal as it steps up the process of questioning former regime loyalists over war crimes.

Majid was one of eight aides to the former president to be questioned by investigators this week, raising to at least 12 the number interrogated in the past 10 days. Majid last appeared before a judge in December.

The new Iraqi government, facing fresh elections by the year's end, is keen to put Saddam and others on trial soon. But officials with the independent Tribunal, set up 18 months ago, say the process cannot be rushed and no trial date has been set.

Majid, who acquired his nickname after Iraqi forces dropped poison gas on Kurdish villagers in 1988, was questioned on Thursday about the suppression of religious political parties and the killing and detention of Fayli Kurds, a Shi'ite Muslim minority among the mostly Sunni Kurds.

Also questioned on the same accusations were Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's former vice-president, and Saadoun Shaker, interior minister early in Saddam's rule, who was also asked about the killing of Shi'ite villagers from Dujail in 1982.

The killings in Dujail - more than 140 villagers were killed after a failed assassination attempt on Saddam as his motorcade passed - may be key to an early trial of Saddam, who was questioned about the incident himself a week ago.

Though minor compared to the genocide and crimes against humanity with which the former president may be charged, government officials say it may be easier to prove Saddam's personal responsibility for ordering the alleged retribution.

"Dujail is a discrete case and not as factually complex as some of the others," a source close to the Tribunal said today, explaining that made it easier to investigate.

Five Saddam lieutenants - including Ramadan and Saddam's half-brother Barzan - have already been questioned in connection with Dujail, along with three other Baathists.

Sources close to the Tribunal said that the investigative stage of the Dujail case could be completed within a month or so, at which point evidence would be presented to a trial judge who would decide whether the case goes ahead.

According to tribunal rules, there must be at least 45 days between the referral of a case to trial and the trial itself, but in theory if Saddam ended up being charged in the Dujail case, he could be tried before the end of the year.

Goss said, "I think they're not quite in the last throes, but I think they are very close to it. And I think that every day that goes by in Iraq where they have their own government and it's moving forward reinforces just how radical (the insurgents) are and how unwanted they are."

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, today that he did not believe that the insurgency was in the last throes.

"I don't think Americans believe that we should cut and run out of Iraq by any stretch of the imagination. But I think they also would like to be told, in reality, what's going on," McCain said on NBC's "Meet The Press."

"I think part of that is it's going to be at least a couple more years," he said.

Goss expressed relief the new director of national intelligence, John Negroponte, was taking over what previously had been some of the key functions of the CIA director. "I would almost equate it to getting rid of a 60-pound back sack, climbing up a big, steep trail," Goss said.

He said he planned to stay as CIA chief for a while.

"We've got a lot to do. We're in the process of rebuilding here. I think this is our moment. I'm going to be here as long as the moment lasts. And I think it is going to last a while because we have the opportunity to build," he said.

- REUTERS