The BBC reports that 'Chemical Ali' given command:
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has put a general notorious for his involvement in the gassing of the Kurds in charge of stopping any southern invasion.But Saddam says that Iraq has no chemical weapons anymore. He wouldn't lie, would he?
A BBC correspondent in Baghdad, Andrew Gilligan, says the appointment of General Ali Hassan al-Majid to command Basra could be aimed at intimidating US and UK troops expected to invade that area should war be declared.
General Majid - a cousin of Saddam Hussein - is known as "Chemical Ali" for his role in the attacks on Kurds in northern Iraq in 1988 in which at least 5,000 people were killed in a single day.
