# "He Gassed His Own People!" Or Did He? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 31, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994 "2003-01-31T23:53:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/121 "2003-02-03T02:56:26Z")
Cyberpundit: Pelletierre is a minority of one as far as I can tell with his theory. It is not based on the most current information, but only back to 1991. It is by no means conclusive of anything. The possibilites it raises have since been dispelled. He says: > [@](#): > > I am in a position to know because, as the Central Intelligence Agency’s senior political analyst on Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, and as a professor at the Army War College from 1988 to 2000, I was privy to much of the classified material that flowed through Washington having to do with the Persian Gulf. This is a misleading statement. His analyst duties date back to 1991, and, being a professor at the war college doesn’t make one especially privy to classified intelligent. I live 20 minutes from the college and know several of the professors, though not Pelletiere. He says this: > [@](#): > > The accusation that Iraq has used chemical weapons against its citizens is a familiar part of the debate. The piece of hard evidence most frequently brought up concerns the gassing of Iraqi Kurds at the town of Halabja in March 1988, near the end of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war… … But the truth is, all we know for certain is that Kurds were bombarded with poison gas that day at Halabja. We cannot say with any certainty that Iraqi chemical weapons killed the Kurds. This is not the only distortion in the Halabja story. These two things do not follow. When Bush said Saddam “gassed his own people” during the state of the Union address, he did not specifically say “and I refer only to Halajba.” Pelletiere is assuming (and has said so,) that this is the incident that Bush is referring to. Bush is only being dishonest if two assumptions are correct: 1. Bush was referring to Halabja and only Halabja and 2. Pelletiere’s conclusions are correct. Since there are several documented instances of Iraqis using gas on Kurds the first is not a good assumption. We’ll see about the second in a moment. then he says: > [@](#): > > This much about the gassing at Halabja we undoubtedly know: it came about in the course of a battle between Iraqis and Iranians. Iraq used chemical weapons to try to kill Iranians who had seized the town, which is in northern Iraq not far from the Iranian border. The Kurdish civilians who died had the misfortune to be caught up in that exchange. But they were not Iraq’s main target. Again, Pelletiere is making an assumption that’s unwarranted. How does he know who the main target was? Even if we take this at face value and assume that the Kurds weren’t the main target it still does not imply any dishonesty in Bush’s comment. The Kurds were in the village. There was a lot of them there. The Iraqi commanders knew this. They used gas. Ergo, they gassed their own countrymen. > [@](#): > > And the story gets murkier: immediately after the battle the United States Defense Intelligence Agency investigated and produced a classified report, which it circulated within the intelligence community on a need-to-know basis. That study asserted that it was Iranian gas that killed the Kurds, not Iraqi gas. This paragraph contradicts the previous one where Pelletiere says Iraqis did gas the village to get the Iranians. > [@](#): > > The condition of the dead Kurds’ bodies, however, indicated they had been killed with a blood agent ? that is, a cyanide-based gas ? which Iran was known to use. The Iraqis, who are thought to have used mustard gas in the battle, are not known to have possessed blood agents at the time. As far as I can tell this is either very old and bad information or a deliberate falsehood. There are several medical reports on the condition of the bodies and the trace elements found after the attack. I have already linked to some of them. The wounded and the dead show the distinct traces of mustard gas, and nerve gas, both of which were in Iraq’s posession. There was no finding of cyanosis, and the bodies were examined. This is a false statement on the part of Pelletiere. > [@](#): > > These facts have long been in the public domain but, extraordinarily, as often as the Halabja affair is cited, they are rarely mentioned. I have not seen the “blood gas” assertion elsewhere, but in looking I found several others which reveal analysis showing Nerve gas and mustard gas. This appears also to be untrue. > [@](#): > > But accusing him of gassing his own people at Halabja as an act of genocide is not correct, because as far as the information we have goes, all of the cases where gas was used involved battles. These were tragedies of war. There may be justifications for invading Iraq, but Halabja is not one of them. Again this is misleading. Iraq had a deliberate and open campaign of genocide against the Kurds and even gave it a name “Anfar.” Iraqi officials have admitted to using gas on the Kurds, they have done so on several other occasions, they have talked about it openly in debate, defecting and captured Iraqi officers have said it, the Kurds don’t have any doubt, in fact, Pelletierre seems to be the only one with doubts. It is odd that if Pelletiere wishes to assert that Iraqi did not gas the Kurds, that he does not address the mountains of corroboration from parties on both sides who say that they did. Then he goes on about Dams which is at least an original digression from the “Bush want the oil” cry, yet just as useless. Then he says this: > [@](#): > > And if it has other examples of Saddam Hussein gassing Kurds, it must show that they were not pro-Iranian Kurdish guerrillas who died fighting alongside Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Does this guy look like we was fighting alongside the Revolutionary guards? [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=kurdistan.org/Multimedia/Iraq.jpg&imgrefurl=http://kurdistan.org/Multimedia/iraq.html&h=426&w=640&prev=/images%3Fq%3DIraq%2Bpoison%2Bgas%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=kurdistan.org/Multimedia/Iraq.jpg&imgrefurl=http://kurdistan.org/Multimedia/iraq.html&h=426&w=640&prev=/images%3Fq%3DIraq%2Bpoison%2Bgas%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff) Pelletiere ommits quite a bit. He says “if it has other examples of Saddam Hussein gassing Kurds,” for someone who claims to be such an expert that’s quite a disingenuous statement. As I and others have repeatedly shown (and so far been ignored) there are quite a few other instances of Kurds getting gassed. It seems pretty disingenous to ignore these. Pelletiere also makes no mention of the fact that Iraq has publically admitted to it. I cannot guess as to why My Pelletiere wrote a false and one-sided editoral, and I don’t really care about his motives for doing so. What is clear though is that he did. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/122 "2003-02-03T03:00:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by London\_Calling \* > \*\ ***Scylla**? regarding your ?his own people? comments, you might want to familiarize yourself with the first page of this thread. \*\* I was there. Perhaps you could tell me what you are referring to. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/123 "2003-02-03T03:09:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hank Fescue \* > \*\*No you are relying on semantics to distort the truth. They are not his countrymen. They have never been accepted by Iraq nor vice versa. They have actually claimed independence from Iraq several times and currently have democratic quasi autonomy. They are not “his own people”. That is the whole pointy end of this lie. “Gased his own people” is much more sinister sounding to the public at large than “gased kurdished rebels in an attempt to preserve the solidarity of his country”. It is a lie that doesn’t even come close to describing who these people are. Don’t get me wrong. I am all for a democratic, independent, Kurdistan. But that in itself betrays the “he gased his own people” line. \*\* In order for this to be a lie though, Bush would have to buy into your definition of “his own people,” which seems to be a rather special one in its exclusivity. It’s **your** intepretation of the term that makes Bush’s statemtent incorrect to your eyes. Your interpretation of the term says that the population of a county are not necessarily the leader of the county’s people. That’s an odd exlusion to my eye, and I don’t see why Bush’s comments need to conform with it in order to not be lies. ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/124 "2003-02-03T03:21:27Z")
“Pelletierre is a minority of one as far as I can tell with his theory” What about his co-author and the other officials who cooperated with the investigation? “His analyst duties date back to 1991, and, being a professor at the war college doesn’t make one especially privy to classified intelligent” Except that he was in charge of writing a report which clearly used classified material. “How does he know who the main target was?” Perhaps from NSA intercepts and other classified material. “This paragraph contradicts the previous one where Pelletiere says Iraqis did gas the village to get the Iranians.” No it doesn’t. I have explained this so many times that I will leave it to you to figure it out. “Even if we take this at face value and assume that the Kurds weren’t the main target it still does not imply any dishonesty in Bush’s comment” It implies that it was a half-truth at best. I think there was a clear implication of deliberate gassing of civilians behind the statement. “It is odd that if Pelletiere wishes to assert that Iraqi did not gas the Kurds…” The issue is: 1)Was the gas deliberately used against Kurdish civilians? 2)Were the gas attacks lethal? Were bodies ever produced? Pelletiere seems to say that 1 is in doubt in the case of Halabja and 2 in the other cases. If the Iraqis have admitted to deliberately killing Kurdish civilians with gas then I guess Pelletiere is definitely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/125 "2003-02-03T03:45:22Z")
Cyberpundit: I’ll just focus on this since it seems to be all you need: > [@](#): > > If the Iraqis have admitted to deliberately killing Kurdish civilians with gas then I guess Pelletiere is definitely wrong. I’ll refer you to my first post on this page. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Fescue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@Hank\_Fescue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Fescue)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/126 "2003-02-03T03:55:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scylla \* > \*\*In order for this to be a lie though, Bush would have to buy into your definition of “his own people,” which seems to be a rather special one in its exclusivity. > > It’s **your** intepretation of the term that makes Bush’s statemtent incorrect to your eyes. > > Your interpretation of the term says that the population of a county are not necessarily the leader of the county’s people. That’s an odd exlusion to my eye, and I don’t see why Bush’s comments need to conform with it in order to not be lies. \*\* Not my interpretation. It is the interpretation of the government of Iraq, the Kurds themselves and most recently our government. We helped to form the government of Kurdistan as an autonomous government for Christ sake. My interpretation? Nah…GWs interpretation that somehow makes non citizens, non cultural, non willing people into “his people” is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Fescue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@Hank\_Fescue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Fescue)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/127 "2003-02-03T03:56:48Z")
And one question. If the greater state of Israel was formed in 1967, aren’t the Israelis killing thier own people in the territories? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/128 "2003-02-03T04:03:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Again, Pelletiere is making an assumption that’s unwarranted. How does he know who the main target was? Even if we take this at face value and assume that the Kurds weren’t the main target it still does not imply any dishonesty in Bush’s comment. The Kurds were in the village. There was a lot of them there. The Iraqi commanders knew this. They used gas. Ergo, they gassed their own countrymen. Classic **Scylla**. Definitely a candidate for the “Greatest Hits” volume 3. How does he know who the main targets were? Presumably, the armed enemy combatants, as in, the Iranian soldiers. Generally, when confronted with an enemy force under arms, they are the primary targets, seeing as how they can shoot back. As the main concept of a battle is to stop the other guys from shooting at you, you shoot at the guys with the guns. You can pick on the guys without guns at any time because…they don’t have any guns. But he’s just getting warmed up. The Kurds were in the village, they gassed the village, ergo they gassed the Kurds. Well, yes, I suppose. Were there any dogs in the village? By this reasoning, maybe the real targets were the dogs? Or perhaps lizards… > [@](#): > > This paragraph contradicts the previous one where Pelletiere says Iraqis did gas the village to get the Iranians. Well, of course it does! Thats his point! Hence the quote “And the story gets murkier…” He is pointing out contradictory stories and then you accuse him of contradictory stories! > [@](#): > > Does this guy look like we was fighting alongside the Revolutionary guards? You’re kidding, right? He looks like a dead guy. Period. Precisely what would be taken as proof as to his affiliation? What on Earth do you purport to prove with this photo? > [@](#): > > Pelletiere also makes no mention of the fact that Iraq has publically admitted to it. And you make no mention of the context, that is, Iraq admitted that mistakes were made. Saying “Shit happens” is a bit shy of saying “I cut out her heart and stomped on it!” Well, it is to the rest of us. But this pales. No, nobody can touch the logic of “There were Kurds in the village, they gassed the village, therefore GeeDubya is a paragon of all that is truthful and virtuous.” Pure genius. _La creme de la dumb_ ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/129 "2003-02-03T04:06:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hank Fescue \* > \*\*And one question. If the greater state of Israel was formed in 1967, aren’t the Israelis killing thier own people in the territories? \*\* I don’t think so. The occupied territories are not Israel. They are simply territories that Israel is occupying. As for the rest, you seem particularly set on the idea that Kurds are disqualified from being Hussein’s “own people.” I think Bush was using the term synonymously with “countrymen.” I see your point but consider it nitpicking an acceptable turn of phrase. You see it as a deliberate and outright falsehood. I see no resolution to our disargreement on the matter. Do you? ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/130 "2003-02-03T04:10:21Z")
“I’ll refer you to my first post on this page” Well I can’t find the examples where the Iraqis deliberately kill Kurdish civilians with gas. What are you referring to? ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Fescue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@Hank\_Fescue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Fescue)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/131 "2003-02-03T04:11:15Z")
Look again my friend. The formation of Iraq and Israel are spookily similar. There was supposed to be land for Kurdistan. There was supposed to be land for Palestine. Neither came to pass fruitfully. Both have struggled for independence and formed thier own autonomous governments in territories held by other countries. Yet you see the Kurds as Iraqi but not the Palestinians as Israeli? What gives? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/132 "2003-02-03T04:24:27Z")
Well, of course he was using it synonymously with “countrymen”! If he said “Saddam used poison gas on his enemies” (which is far closer to fact) that doesn’t have nearly the emotional impact. The use of the term is not explicity false, the term can be stretched, in the same sense that a square inch of truth can cover an acre of ground. Nonetheless, it is spin, it is bathos, crafted to rouse the emotions and cloud reason. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/133 "2003-02-03T04:27:03Z")
> [@](#): > > How does he know who the main targets were? Presumably, the armed enemy combatants, as in, the Iranian soldiers. Generally, when confronted with an enemy force under arms, they are the primary targets, seeing as how they can shoot back. As the main concept of a battle is to stop the other guys from shooting at you, you shoot at the guys with the guns. You can pick on the guys without guns at any time because…they don’t have any guns. THe Iraqis weren’t fighting Iranians in the town. They were fighting Kurds. Contrary to what Pelletiere says the town was taken by Kurdish rebels the day before. They were only being supported by some Iranians. Check my first cite on this page, then check the chronology provided by Human Rights Watch that I’ve linked to. This was a town of 60,000 people that Iraq lobbed mustard and nerve gas into. By no account that I’ve seen were Iranians in the town. If you deliberately lob Mustard gas and nerve gas into the middle of a town populated by 60,000 people who in the fuck do you think you’re kidding when you say the townpeople aren’t the target? > [@](#): > > The Kurds were in the village, they gassed the village, ergo they gassed the Kurds. Well, yes, I suppose. Were there any dogs in the village? By this reasoning, maybe the real targets were the dogs? You disgust me with this. I’m sure that was exactly their thinking. The Kurds were about as important as dogs. There were rebels in the town so they gassed them all and killed two birds with one stone. > [@](#): > > You’re kidding, right? He looks like a dead guy. Period. Precisely what would be taken as proof as to his affiliation? What on Earth do you purport to prove with this photo? That’s a man dying trying to save a child, and failing on that day. This man clearly wasn’t fighting side by side with Iranians when he died was he? > [@](#): > > And you make no mention of the context, that is, Iraq admitted that mistakes were made. Saying “Shit happens” is a bit shy of saying “I cut out her heart and stomped on it!” Well, it is to the rest of us. La creme de la dumb I’ve given the cites. I’ve quoted them twice on this page. I’ve given you the full cites for the context. I’ve given detailed link which document more of the deliberate genocide. You ignore them. Iraqis lob nerve gas and mustard gas into a town inhabited by 60,000 people **deliberately** and you say “shit happens.” This shit is called genocide. ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Fescue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@Hank\_Fescue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Fescue)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/134 "2003-02-03T04:46:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scylla \* > \*\*I don’t think so. The occupied territories are not Israel. They are simply territories that Israel is occupying. > > As for the rest, you seem particularly set on the idea that Kurds are disqualified from being Hussein’s “own people.” > > I think Bush was using the term synonymously with “countrymen.” > > I see your point but consider it nitpicking an acceptable turn of phrase. You see it as a deliberate and outright falsehood. > I see no resolution to our disargreement on the matter. Do you? \*\* No I don’t. Because you show no willingness to explain your difference in judgement in two nearly identical situations. I don’t think you are using judgement, rather defending your position without any consideration to the facts of who these people actually are and thier dispostion relative to the country of Iraq. You are lookimg like a sore loser that can’t admit your postion is wrong even when it has been driven home by a couple of different people. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/135 "2003-02-03T04:49:47Z")
> [@](#): > > THe Iraqis weren’t fighting Iranians in the town. They were fighting Kurds. Contrary to what Pelletiere says the town was taken by Kurdish rebels the day before. They were only being supported by some Iranians. Only? What does that mean, precisely? The Iranians were a hundred miles away, and phoning in encouragement? And the town was taken by Kurdish rebels? Allied, presumably, with the Iranians? > [@](#): > > If you deliberately lob Mustard gas and nerve gas into the middle of a town populated by 60,000 people who in the fuck do you think you’re kidding when you say the townpeople aren’t the target? Well, when we do it it’s called “collateral damage”. But that’s different. We’re the Americans. Good guys, white hats. Not the same at all. > [@](#): > > Iraqis lob nerve gas and mustard gas into a town inhabited by 60,000 people deliberately and you say “shit happens.” That would be insulting if it weren’t so transparently stupid. Anybody with the sense to make thier own oatmeal would know I was paraphrasing an Iraqi response. > [@](#): > > This shit is called genocide. This shit is called “war”. In which service, you labor. ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/136 "2003-02-04T03:11:41Z")
“Chemical weapons are not weapons of mass destruction.” -Pelletiere 2/3/03 _Hannity and Colmes_ interview ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/137 "2003-02-04T12:54:10Z")
A matter of definition. That’s his. ---
**Author:** ![zigaretten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@zigaretten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zigaretten)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/138 "2003-02-04T13:18:10Z")
**elucidator** … Given that the Clinton administration took the position that Iraq was responsible for what happened at Halabja (and we all know that Clinton wouldn’t lie to us) for eight years, despite the fact that Prof. Pelletiere first published his claims in 1992, how do you reach the conclusion that Bush is some sort of incredible liar? He is simply maintaining the position of his predecessor. If, in fact, that position is wrong; then Bush is, at worst, only guilty of continuing in a rather long standing mistaken belief. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/139 "2003-02-04T14:20:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zigaretten \* > Given that the Clinton administration took the position that Iraq was responsible for what happened at Halabja This is not the same as saying “He gassed his own people” That phrase implies (and is _meant_ to imply) a situation where Sadam got up one day thinking: ‘hmm what shall I do today? Why not gass some of my subjects.’ Again implying that he is a highly immoral unpredictable madman. If you _know_ what the phrase implies and you _know_ that that is in no way a true representation of what happened then, yes, you can be accused of lying. At least of twisting the truth. ---
**Author:** ![zigaretten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@zigaretten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zigaretten)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994/140 "2003-02-04T17:14:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Latro \* > This is not the same as saying “He gassed his own people” > [@](#): > > “Saddam has ruled through a **reign of terror against his own people** and disregard for the peace of the region. His war against Iran cost at least half a million lives over 10 years. He **gassed Kurdish civilians** in Northern Iraq.” _President William J. Clinton; President’s Statement to the People of the Arab World, issued by The White House Office of the Press Secretary, Dec. 18, 1998_ > [@](#): > > “……Our deep concern for the safety, security, and economic well-being of **Iraqi** Kurds, Shias, Sunnis, and others who have been subject to **brutal attacks by the Baghdad regime** remains a primary focus of our Iraq policy……” > > “….focused on the long-range effects of the **Iraqi chemical attack** on the village of **Halabja,** where nearly 5,000 persons were killed in 1988.” _President William J. Clinton; Letter From the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; March 3, 1999_ I don’t see a lot of difference here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/he-gassed-his-own-people-or-did-he/151994.md?page=8)