Former Saddam commanders on trial for '91 revolt
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Former commanders of Saddam Hussein's military went on trial in Baghdad on Tuesday for their role in crushing a Shi'ite rebellion in southern Iraq in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War in which tens of thousands died.
The 15 defendants include the former commander of Saddam's Republican Guard, his then defense minister and his half-brother, who was director of Iraq's intelligence services.
The most high profile of the 15 defendants is Saddam's feared cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as "Chemical Ali," who has already been sentenced to death in a separate trial.
The chief judge, Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, told the men they were charged with crimes against humanity. The court has said the charges are "for engaging in widespread or systematic attacks against a civilian population."
The rebellion, and a simultaneous one in Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, erupted spontaneously in early March 1991 after a U.S.-led coalition routed Saddam's army in Kuwait. Rebels seized control of many towns in the south.
The rebels expected U.S. forces to come to their aid, especially since then U.S. President George Bush senior had called on the Iraqi people and the military to oust Saddam.
But Bush and his coalition partners held their troops in check and Saddam was given a free hand to launch a counterattack with tanks and helicopters.
Tens of thousands are estimated to have been killed in the crackdown, either by the security forces or in prison. Prosecutors in the case have put the death toll at 100,000.
LIST OF THE DEAD
Bush has since argued that, while he hoped a popular revolt would topple Saddam, he did not want the Iraqi state to break up and feared the collapse of the multinational coalition, including Arab states, that he had assembled.
Former Republican Guard commander Iyad Fatih al-Khalifa al-Rawi pleaded his innocence on Tuesday, saying that at the time of the uprising he had received orders to move his troops from Basra to Wasit province. The case is focusing on Basra and Maysan provinces.
Witness Khrbit Jabbar Risan told the court how his village was shelled for two days by Republican Guard artillery units.
"I have a list of the dead who they killed in the offensive or arrested and then executed," he said.
Three of the 15 accused, including Majeed, were sentenced to death earlier this year in the Anfal trial, which dealt with a military campaign against Kurds in northern Iraq in 1988 in which tens of thousands of people were also killed.
The five convicted in the Anfal case are appealing against their sentences. If Majeed and the two others sentenced to death lose their appeal they could be executed before the latest trial is completed.
Saddam himself was hanged in December 2006 after being found guilty in the killing of scores of Shi'ite men in the town of Dujail after an attempt on his life there in 1982.
(Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed and Wathiq Ibrahim)
