West has bloodied hands By Eric Margolis

Filed under:
USA
December 30, 2004 - 19:11

Who was the first high government official to authorize use of mustard gas against rebellious Kurdish tribesmen in Iraq?



If your answer was Saddam Hussein's cousin, the notorious "Chemical Ali" -- aka Ali Hassan al-Majid -- you're wrong.



The correct answer: Sainted Winston Churchill. As colonial secretary and secretary for war and air, he authorized the RAF in the 1920s to routinely use mustard gas against rebellious Kurdish tribesmen in Iraq and against Pashtun tribes on British India's northwest frontier.

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