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Message text written by "John Smith" >Halabja is important not just for what it confirms about the character of the Saddam regime, but also for what it reveals about his western sponsors. The US and UK acted to cover up the Halabja atrocity, to protect Saddam from UN censure, and - as the Scott enquiry revealed - the UK government sent David Mellor to Baghdad to negotiate a major arms contract while the bodies were still lying in the street.< As the British Ambassador to Iraq at the time, my recollection is rather different! Leaving aside the enormous difficulties of verifying at the time either of the two conflicting versions of events, as they have been related on this List, I accompanied David Mellor throughout his visit, which took place in February 1988 well before Halabja, and can assure you that he did not negotiate a major arms contract. The only really successful piece of negotiation was to persuade Saddam Hussain to release one of our long-term prisoners - a certain John Smith! Terence Clark -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings.