Insofar as anything good may be said to be coming out of the war in Iraq, this may be it.

Ali Hassan al-Majid, dubbed "Chemical Ali" by opponents of the Iraqi regime for ordering a 1988 poison gas attack that killed thousands of Kurds, has been found dead, a British officer said Monday.
Maj. Andrew Jackson of the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment told The Associated Press that his superiors had confirmed the death of the man who was President Saddam Hussein's first cousin and one of the most brutal members of his inner circle.
Al-Majid apparently was killed on Saturday when two coalition aircraft used laser-guided munitions to attack his house in Basra. [...] Believed to be in his fifties, al-Majid led a 1988 campaign against rebellious Kurds in northern Iraq in which whole villages were wiped out. An estimated 100,000 Kurds, mostly civilians, were killed.
He also has been linked to the bloody crackdown on Shiites in southern Iraq following a 1991 uprising following the Gulf War. He served as governor of Kuwait during Iraq's seven-month occupation of the emirate in 1990-1991.

One less evil bastard in the world. I'd be happier, though, if I didn't think there were several more ready to take his place. Saddam still remains at large.

posted by James Russell | 11:55 AM