Ali Hassan al-Majid al-Tikriti (30 November 1941 – 25 January 2010) was the Minister of Defense of Iraq from 1991 to 1995 and Director of Jihaz al-Mukhabarat al-Amma from 1995 to 2003. Known as "Chemical Ali" due to his use of chemicals against Kurdish and Shiite rebels, he was executed for war crimes in 2010.
Biography[]
Ali Hassan al-Majid was born in Tikrit on 30 November 1941, a cousin of the future Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. After Saddam came to power in the 1979 Iraqi coup d'etat, al-Majid was appointed to a high post and he served as a General in the Iraqi Army. Al-Majid commanded forces against Iran in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War, and became infamous for the Al-Anfal Campaign against the Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq in the later 1980s. Al-Majid's use of chemical weapons to kill captured Kurdish and Shiite rebels gave him the nicknames "Chemical Ali" and the "Butcher of Kurdistan".
He served as Minister of Defense from 1991 to 1995 and Director of Intelligence from 1995 to 2003, when the United States and United Kingdom invasion deposed Saddam and his men. Al-Majid was tried for war crimes, and hung in 2010.