[Kilsally]

From GEORGE PASCOE WATSON
US Central Command, Qatar

THE war against Saddam Hussein will avenge the death of the baby girl pictured above — and prevent more slaughter by the Butcher of Baghdad.

The infant and her mother were among 5,000 civilians killed in a chemical attack Saddam ordered against his own people exactly 15 years ago tomorrow.

And yesterday it was clear that the carnage and the murder of millions of others since then were spurring the commander of British forces in the Gulf to crush the tyrant.

Air Marshal Brian Burridge said: “Saddam is a very, very dangerous man.

“I have been inside his mind and it’s a very murky place. He is such a bad person.

“When we unpick the legacy of human rights abuses in Iraq people back home will understand what this is all about.”

The Air Marshal had clearly been moved by the gassing of the Kurds in Halabja, in northern Iraq.

More than 10,000 men, women and children were injured in the attack on the bustling city, near the border with Iran, on March 16, 1988.

One survivor, Nasreen Abdel Qadir, later told the world of the horror unleashed on the population of 80,000.

They had started a revolt against Saddam and were punished with barbarous severity.

Nasreen, who was 16 at the time, said the chemical bombardment followed intense shelling. She noticed a strange sickly, sweet smell — then saw animals falling and dying.

Next, her neighbours began collapsing in the streets.


Alert ... Air Marshal Brian Burridge warned
Saddam was a 'very, very dangerous man'

Nasreen said: “Children started throwing up. They kept throwing up. They were in so much pain, and crying so much.

“They were crying all the time. My mother was crying. Then the old people started throwing up.”

Saddam still has the chemical weapons used in Halabja and Air Marshal Burridge — Britain’s most senior military commander — vowed to help topple his evil regime.

He said: “There are 23 million people in Iraq who don’t want anything to do with Saddam and we owe it to them.”

Air Marshal Burridge spoke of his pride in Britain’s 45,000-strong military force in the Gulf.

He revealed Saddam had NO IDEA of the size and firepower of the Allies massing on Iraq’s borders — because his henchmen were too terrified to tell him.

And he said the Iraqi leader and his forces had NO HOPE against the 300,000 British, American and Australian forces ranged against him.

The Iraqi army still follows Soviet battle plans drawn up in the 1960s and have NO CHANCE of standing up to the onslaught. The Air Marshal went on:

"If I was Saddam I would say, ‘Ok, I’m done, I have not got a hope’.

"Will we be taking part in full combat? Too right we will. We have had to plan for nose to nose stuff.

"His people really should not want to fight. If they do fight, we will hit them hard. Very, very hard indeed.

"They need be under no illusion that if they put up a fight they will be hit hard."

The Air Marshal spoke to The Sun after a three-hour council of war with American General Tommy Franks at US Central Command in Qatar.

He heaped praise on British soldiers, sailors and airmen — and singled out the Royal Marine Commandos for special mention.

Air Marshal Burridge said: “Our military are astounding and outstanding. People know they are the best in the world. It gives me great pride being able to sit alongside Tommy Franks with our armed forces on show.


Saddam ... still has chemical weapons

“The great thing about British servicemen and women is that they will wring the last ounce out of their kit.

“They will make technology go further than even the makers ever intended and they can use their creativity to get the job done.

“They always get their job done. I have seen our Commandos standing in the desert with sand in their faces, smiling.

“They are as fit as hell and raring to go. Frankly, we are ready for anything.”

The commander said he had nothing but respect for General Franks, who will be in overall charge of the second Gulf War.

But he said he would have the power to overrule General Franks if he believed British forces were being asked to hit targets regarded in London as off limits.

He said: “Tommy Franks is one hell of a great commander and he greatly appreciates the role the UK will play.

“I trust him and I like him enormously. He has a great military mind.”

After lavishing praise on the Americans, Air Marshal Burridge revealed he had been forced to borrow a pair of their boots.

He tore a foot ligament during a training run and needed some size tens to be comfortable.

The disclosure was a minor embarrassment in the wake of complaints from British troops they have had to beg for US boots because the British supplies had not arrived.

Some soldiers had even earned the nickname The Borrowers because they went cap in hand to their US comrades for help.

# Additional reporting by BRIAN FLYNN
#


Never forget
this evil

By ANN CLWYD MP
Vice Chair of Parliamentary Labour Party

THIS weekend marks the 15th anniversary of one of the worst atrocities against civilians in peace time.

On March 16, 1988, Saddam Hussein’s airforce murdered 5,000 civilians and injured more than 10,000 when Halabja was bombarded with mustard gas and other poisons.

When I went to northern Iraq just two weeks ago, I went back to some of the villages attacked by chemical weapons.

I met an old man who remembered the sunny day when five planes overhead dropped what looked like balloons on his village. Three hundred men, women and children died.


Chirac ... business
with Saddam

The next day Iraqi soldiers came and another 450 people were herded like cattle into trucks and have never been seen again.

On the mountain top above the village there is a monument to those who died or disappeared.

It is the huge head of a man with his mouth wide open gasping for air.

What has changed in those 15 years? Not a lot.

Of course, since then the only Western leader to do business with Saddam remains French President Jacques Chirac.

In the meantime Saddam has continued to torture and kill. At least 200,000 Iraqi Shias in the marshes have been murdered and their homes destroyed.

The people of Halabja still suffer from very high rates of serious diseases such as cancer and birth defects. Today we must remember Halabja.

Remember those who just, in the last few months, have been ethnically cleansed, forced to leave their homes, just because they are Kurds.

Remember the thousands of people in Saddam’s notorious prisons — being beaten, tortured and executed.

Remember the woman professor, who gave birth in prison but had no milk to feed her baby. The baby died and she held the body in her arms for three days.

Remember the 15-year-old boy, who the guards nailed to a window frame.

And remember the plastic shredder, where prisoners were forced to watch as others were thrown in alive.

Most of all, on Halabja Day this Sunday, let us remember the Iraqi people who need our help. They cannot get rid of Saddam on their own. Let us have no more Halabjas.