Roj Bash !

The trial of this Dutchman trader has its importance for severel reasons. The first and the more important, is that for the first time a European Court and then a state, recognizes that Anfal is legally, and according to the Convention of Geneva of 1948), a genocide, for the Dutch court should decide, in precondition to the verdict, if the gas bombing of the Kurdish town of Halabja, in March 16th 1988 was or not a genocidary act.

Moreover Anraat’s story is exemplary to see how Iraqi former regime benefitted of an International network to buy forbidden products.

Frans van Anraat, 63 years old, has been only condemned for complicity of war crimes and discharged for the crime of genocide. According to the court, the man could not ignore that the products he sold to Iraq could be used for Baathists’ repression and crimes against its population, but as the last deliveries had been made before March 16th 1988, then before Halabja bombing, he could be unaware of the genocidary programm of the regime.

So the Court condemned him to the maximal punishment according to his case, 15 years. By reading the verdict, the president of the court has though added that the judgment is not severe enough in consideration the role played by Anraat in the production of chemical weapons using against civilians.

The prosecutor Fred Teeven explained that between 1984 and 1988, Frans van Anraat had delivered at least 1100 tons of chemicals to Iraq, in 36 cargoes, sailing throughout the world by various ways, in order to mask the destination of it.

Anraat has been arrested one years ago, but in 2003, when he came back in Holland, ha had given an interview on Dutch television, and admit without difficulty that he has delivered chemicals to Iraq, but that he did not understand what was reprehensible in it. According to him it was not his main activity, “I did it beside my main buiseness, I did it for helping people who whhen I was in Baghdad, asked me provide them certain products which the Iraqi ministery for Oil needed. As I had excellent relations with them, I satisfied their asking.”

Among the chemical provided by Anraat was thiodiglycol and oxychlorhyd of phosphorus, two components of the mustard gas. In the same time, the USA had prohibited their export towards Iraq. But it was not so difficult to find them via Far-Eastern countries, less strict in the matter by using a complex network of companies buying it there to sold elsewhere etc.

The war between Iran and Iraq was a great source of profits for this buiseness, which front of most Western countries chose to close their eyes…

So a small company of the New Jersey, Alcolac, was the original provider of thiodiglycol to Iran, but at the end, privided it to Iraq also, via intermediaries for each camp, and Anraat was then the principal purchaser for the Iraqi part.

In the middle of the year 1988, the American customs discovered the strange practices of Alcolac, after the gazage of the Kurds in Halabja. Was it a pure coincidence if American authorities chose to watch this company, just after Halabja scandal ? In any case, the USA ask in 1989 the arrest of Anraat, who was in Italia. But for unexplained reasons, Italian authorities released him, and later, the United States gave up their request for extradition for unexplained reasons also… But let’s remember that in the same time, the USA tried to make believe that Jonathan Randal explained in the Dark Book of Saddam Husein :“a confusing report emanating from the Army War College of Carlisle, in Pennsylvania – and not deprived of any impulse from Washington – even affirmed that Iranians made the massacre of Halabja.” So we could suppose that Western states were not very enthuisiastic at this time to expose the “black network” of Saddam’s friends.

Anraat, after the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 came back in Holland and was arrested in 2004, judged and condemned in 2005. He appealed the decision.