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1631-HQ-1462938 without such a drastic step. At the time, the situation was viewed as dire and "life or death." AZIZ admitted that Iraq and Iran had each violated provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 1917 and 1948, of which each was a signator, which prohibited the use of chemical weapons. [AZIZ interview, February 2, 2004]. May 25, 1987 Chemical Attack on the Malakan Valley Pursuant to the authorization to use chemical weapons that HUSSEIN had given to the military in the series of previously identified letters, the Iraqi military attacked the Malakan Valley with chemical weapons on May 25, 1987. Specifically, based on an April 24, 1987 DMI report, Number 28357, the Secretary General for the Ministry of Defense, Staff General MAHMOOD SHOKER SHAHEEN, sent letter Number D/A/51/1/10374 to the Headquarters of the Army Chief of Staff. The letter, dated May 1, 1987, advised that the Deputy to the Minister of Defense had ordered: All agents’ sites should be struck with aerial weapons, traditional and special, and all weapons within range. (Attached as document #XX) This letter prompted the Senior Secretary of the Army Chief of Staff, Staff General TAREQ HUSSEIN MAJEED, to direct the DMI via letter Number RAG/1/15787, dated May 2, 1987, to: Please take the necessary procedure and provide the Headquarters of the Air Force and Air Defense with the Agents’ sites in order to destroy them. (Attached as document #xx) On May 3, 1987, the DMI informed the Headquarters of the Army Chief of Staff via report Number M1/Sh3/Q2/9819 that it had provided the locations of the Iranian Agents’ sites to the Headquarters of the Air Force and Air Defense. The DMI identified 17 villages by name and by what appears to have been grid coordinates. Additionally, the DMI suggested “ordering a study on the issue of striking the Iranian Agents’s sites with special ammunition by the authorized committee.” SABIR AL-DURI signed the report as the Director of the DMI. (Attached as document #XX) On May 9, 1987, the Headquarters of the Air Force and Air Defense notified the Ministry of Defense via letter Number Sh1/QD/690 that based on SABIR's report Number 9819, and Army 24