THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 25, 1995 TAG: 9508250001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
The least-surprising news in the paper this week is that Iraqi defector Hussein Kamel al-Majid has blood on his hands.
The headline said ``allegedly has blood on his hands,'' but given that Hussein Kamel is Saddam Hussein's son-in-law and was his trusted lieutenant, dropping the ``allegedly'' seems safe. Saddam Hussein has never surrounded himself with Mother Teresas.
Among Hussein Kamel's dastardly deeds, according to human-rights organizations:
Burning children alive to force them to reveal the hiding places of their parents during a rebel uprising.
Ordering thousands of prisoners tortured and shot.
Firing scud missiles into two holy cities then held by rebels.
Ordering the execution of Iraqi doctors for treating rebels.
Hussein Kamel, who is staying with his family in a palace belonging to King Hussein of Jordan, is being touted as a possible leader in a rebellion against Saddam Hussein.
Kanan Maklya, head of the Iraq Research and Documentation Project at Harvard, said, ``I find it repulsive and shortsighted that anybody should consider Hussein Kamel as a potential leader of the opposition. I think the Iraqi opposition should take legal action to have him extradited and brought to trial.''
Maklya said Hussein Kamel would rank in the top five or six of those Iraqis responsible for killings and torture since Saddam Hussein came to power.
Although it's often said that my enemy's enemy is my friend, in the case of Hussein Kamel, let's hope not. by CNB