◆ SpookStack

1631-HQ-1462938 of the Northern Bureau, I was also tasked with additional responsibilities-- administration, the relevant special services, the security and intelligence ones, the Army, and the civilian wing of the Party, and the military wing of the Party. These were my responsibilities, that's all. So, I was to work as I wished. Therefore, we started making our own decisions, and in some instances, even in violation of the Leadership's instructions. But Comrades, this was three months ago... When we made the decision to destroy and collectivize the villages and draw a dividing line [i.e., the so-called "red line"] between us and the saboteurs, the first one to express his doubts to me and before the President was TALI'A AL-DURI. The first one who alarmed me was TALI'A AL-DURI. To this day, the impact of TALI'A is evident. He didn't destroy all the villages that I asked him to at that time. And this is the longest-standing member of the Ba'ath Party. What about the other people then? How were we to convince them to solve the Kurdish problem and slaughter the saboteurs? So we started to show these senior commanders on TV that [the saboteurs] had surrendered. Am I supposed to keep them in good shape? What am I supposed to do with them, these [people]. Then a message reaches me from that great man, the father [SADDAM HUSSEIN], saying take good care of the families of the saboteurs and this and that. The general command brings it to me. I put his message to my head. But take good care of them? No, I will bury them with bulldozers.... Interviewers played AL-MAJID a portion of this audiotape. AL-MAJID acknowledged that the tape contains his words and his voice. He admitted that he ordered the destruction of homes within the prohibited zones after the residents were removed. AL-MAJID admitted that he held a separate meeting and instructed those under his command that no house was to remain standing within the prohibited zones. AL-MAJID also admitted that he told his subordinates that he would tour the prohibited 42