Why Didn’t You Use Chemical Weapons on Khorramshahr?

Based on Navideshahed report, quoting the memoirs of Iraqi officers who were present in the war has a special freshness; because you can also be aware of the view of your enemy. This text is sourced from a handwritten of one of the Iraqi high ranking officials which has been written on the final night of the military operation “Beitol Moghadas”? and also the events which occurred after that in Iraq:



** What happened in Khorramshahr on the night of liberation?

When the Islamic groups were able to kill our leading groups, they used all of their powers in the battlefields and at that night they entered the city by crossing the defense line. Due to the weakness of our forces, they would surrender at the beginning. These were those forces who led the Iranian forces toward mined areas and the storage of arms and ammunition, also toward the units that did not wish to surrender or to be involved in the battles. This situation continued throughout the night. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers were anxious in Khorramshahr and wandering from one side to the other side without knowing what they should do?

But another group of soldiers with officers fought against Iranians so strongly, because they thought if they surrender, they will be executed. The officials had promised that if we get rid of this situation, we would be rewarded. General \\\"Khamis Aldelimi\\\" had raped three Arabic women and the other officials had committed the same crimes as well; that is why they were so afraid of their own destiny and they knew that there is no good fate for them but only to be executed. The resistance of this group had several reasons and these reasons included escape from captivity, escape from death, and fear of Saddam\\\'s wrath.

On the next morning of 24 / 5 / 1982, the demand of attacking the Islamic group was issued which we were supposed to launch it at 7:00 AM on that day. The command was that the surrounded units to break the blockage and to continue advancement and to reach the Army that had been dispatched from Shalamche toward Khorramshahr.

This command was issued while the spirit of our soldiers was very weak and they were pessimistic about the result of the war. Commanders did not have sufficient control over their members and since the units had been combined it was not clear what soldiers belong to what battalion.

On the other hand, we also did not have ammunitions in the city. The tanks were out of order and no one dared to move them. The guns did not work too. New soldiers who were sent to Khorramshahr city they were not familiar with the map of the city and the mine fields. The military operation needed to be start from inside the city and it was not a right work, because Khorramashar was mostly in defensive mode not attack mode. Anyways according to the demands of the commanders, we started the attack. We used mechanized and armored systems as well. Although the soldiers were reluctant to this war, they would run along with the tanks. Maybe they would do it because of the severity of the hopelessness of lives. We made a lot of casualties, while we were not able to move more than a few meters, because the Islamic forces had closed the roads. I asked Major Abd Ali Hussein Al-Obudi, the commander of the third battalion from brigade 44th to say what we should do?

Major started crying and he said: \\\"If we do not surrender, all of us will be killed.”?

After an hour when we reached to a shelter I saw his dead body. They said that he has committed suicide; a bullet had hit his head. I did not believe it. Lt. Khalid Aldelimi also said: One of the soldiers killed him because he did not want to surrender.


** Involvement in the port of Khorramshahr


The Tanks of Islamic forces advanced toward the regions where we had stationed at 1:00 o’clock and they faced with our firm arms. They also fired guns toward our surrounded troops. In this place there was a large bunker that all high-ranking officers had gathered there, and if an Iranian missile had struck them, a great tragedy would occur for us.

The Iranian forces also had not full knowledge about this bunker and they did not try to fire towards this shelter because they were aware of the forces that were inside this bunker and they wanted to capture all of them.

After the conflict, the Iranians with their speaker asked the Iraqi officers to surrender and then one of them that were fluent in Arabic language came to the bunker and he negotiated with the Iraqi officers.

These officers had connected the Army 11 and had asked them what to do? They had been ordered not to surrender, when the negotiations was not followed with good results, the commander demanded that all of them to commit suicide. The commander mentioned this commander on behalf Saddam Hussein. The command divided the officers into two groups:

1 - The first group that based on the command of Staff Colonel Nazem Al-Khayat decided to surrender and let the Islamic forces to capture them.

2 - The second group that announced their readiness until the moment of death. The group’s leader was Staff Major Kheil Ibrahim and Lt. Col. Ghahtan Ibrahim.

But Brigadier General Khamis Mokhalaf Abdol Rahman did not what to do and to join what group? When the Iranian soldier returned without any certain response, the officers considered colonel Nazem Al-Khayat as a hired worker and supporter of Islamic forces and they claimed that he has been the reason that they had been surrounded by the Islamic forces.

Major Dakhil telephoned with the commandership and he made them aware of the existing situation. The Iraqi commandership sent some boats to the region to defend the surrounded officers, but the boats were not able to do anything for the officers. Some of them were drowned and some of them were not able to rescue themselves.


The commandership dispatched a helicopter containing ammunition and food to the region, but the aid was taken by the Islamic forces. The group of officers who initially did not agree to surrender, they gave up their first words and decided to surrender. This issue occurred when the Iranian forces had captured the whole port and the armored units of Iran had surrounded the nearby shelter.

In this shelter except a few high-ranking officers, the battalion commanders and the confidential documents and maps had been stored as well. In one of the documents it had been mentioned that if the city be captured by the Islamic forces, it must be attacked badly and the forces can use any types of weapons including the weapons which had been banned by the international community.

** 24 / 5 / 1982

The Islamic forces entered Khorramshahr on this day. First the Islamic Revolutionary Corps arrived there. Then the armored brigade and trucks arrived. The Iraqi soldiers would hide themselves in the alleys, streets and houses located there.

Some of them would try to steal gold, silvers and many other objects at the same time without knowing where they should hide them. They would run from one place to another place seeking for a shelter, while the Iranian bullets were being shot toward them. The city was full of corpses of Iraqi soldiers, burnt tanks and damaged weapons. A large number of our forces that had been captured by the Iranians were taken to the back side of Iranian territories. Their clothes were torn. They did not have shoes and their bodies were bleeding. Some high-ranking officers who had hidden their military degrees attempted to escape from this situation.

On 24 / 5 / 1982 the Iranians were able to fully capture the city. Khorramshahr\\\'s fall would be considered as a heavy blow to our commandership, because Khorramshahr was the winning card of Iraq.

Abdol Jawad Zanun, the authority responsible for military intelligence on Khorramshahr had said: By having Khorramshahr, we can finish all the future negotiations in our interest. But the Islamic forces surprised the world with their plans because we never thought that the Iranian forces to advance from the north. Especially from the passing way number one, because this region was a region which had been covered with water. We did not think that the Iranians attack us from the side of Sadatah Al-Taahdati, because the best brigades had stationed in this war zone. Another point was that the area had been covered with mines and barbed wire and the water. These two axes had not been recorded in the military maps. Since we thought that the Iranians will attack us from Karun River, we prepared all of our equipments in this region, but we faced with surprise attacks.

Iranians were successful in keeping secret their passageways in a way that their passageways were too far away from the eyes of our ground force and air force. Accordingly our artillery was not able to have an active role in this field. Also the Iranians were able to hide their military bridges, indeed they had constructed these bridges the same level as waters.

The Iranians acted so successfully at the beginning of their advancement and they were able to come to Ahvaz - Khorramshahr road without involving conflicts with us. Then they gathered their forces and they could cause a heavy blow against our forces in Sadatah Al-taahdati region.


** How we were rescued from Khorramshahr?


On 24 May after the fall of Khorramshahr, a number of our units we able to escape. I rode a transport ship in which there were many dead bodies of some officers. I threw out the bodies and I moved and I arrived to Arvand River, though the Iranians had shut the ways. I removed my military rank as well. The soldiers thought that I’m a soldier too, that is why they were insulting the officers in the way and they would curse them. One of them said:
These dogs caused the conflicts between us.

When I arrived to Arvand River I told them: All the roads have been closed by the Islamic forces.

One of the soldiers said: So we must cross Arvand River.

I said: I do not know how to swim.

One of them said: \\\"We will help you.

We took off our uniforms. Suddenly, a rocket struck the boat and burned it. We started to swim. Bullets from both sides would be fired above us. It was a strange limbo. A bomb was exploded near us and it caused one of the soldiers to sink so immediately. After an hour we reached to the other side of Arvand River. All our troops were retreating and no one was thinking about the other. The injured had been abandoned and the deaths had been fallen inside the mud with their weapons. Some were taking transport ships, weapons and ammunition to other areas. We jumped into one of them which were moving with high speed. We did not know where it was going. Some soldiers were drinking wines inside the ammunition. In the area Alnashve, lots of soldiers and transport ships had been gathered, because there was only one way to pass that all wanted to pass through it.

However the transport ship moved. I felt that I’m not alive anymore. I was wishing that I wish I was a dead stock, so that I would stay safe from the government of Saddam Hussein. We arrived to Alnashve. Some soldiers were in the military station. Colonel Ali Hantush told me: Thanks God, you are alive, because we have written your name in the list of missing persons.

On 26 May, all the brigades who had remained healthy withdrew. It was a very bad day because the military commandership issued the execution demand of Zidan. Colonel Ahmad due to injury walked with a stick. He told me: I wished to be a commander of a region. But mine has betrayed me.

I smiled and said: I think that the sign of courage is very high for us.

He told me: At the time of courage sign distribution, Saddam said: \\\"I am not satisfied with your resistance in Khorramshahr. These signs are only logos to cover up the losses from the public opinion. I wish you had been killed but you had not retreated. He looked at us so angrily. Then he threw a spit toward us and he said: “you darkened our face and the face of history. Why didn’t you use chemical weapons? I don’t get calm as long as I see your heads under tanks wheels. Saddam expressed many words, that I can not say all of them. At this time I realized the cruelty of Saddam Hussein. Perhaps at that time that was God’s will which we were able to be freed from Saddam Hussein’s grip; because he was so upset and nervous in a way that he broke the glass of water that was in his hand and splashed the glass powders toward us. After that he hit one of the other glasses on the ground and its pieces were dispersed in the hall. Then he shouted: \\\"O woe Khorramshahr was lost. Now how can we get it again? At this time General Saj Al-Delimi stood up and he said: Excuse me sir ... Saddam looked at him angrily and he said: \\\"Shut up fool, coward. All of you are cowards and must be executed.”?

I prepared myself for death and said in my heart, Hey Kamel, the son of Jaber. Tonight, you will die and your body will be lost as well. Saddam shouted: \\\"Why didn’t you use chemical weapons against them? One of the officers said: sir, in this case chemical weapons could harm our own forces, because we were so close to the enemy. Saddam shouted: That was no problem, Khorramshahr was more important or the life of your soldiers? You idiot! He was cursing continuously. In a way that I realized that this man has nothing of humanity. When General Neibol Al-Rabieyee started talking; I thought Saddam Hussein will forgive him, but as long as his words were finished, Saddam Hussein took of his shoe and threw at him. His shoe went among the line of officers. The bodyguards brought the shoe for Saddam Hussein.

At the end of his speech he said: \\\"I do not see any man here in front of myself. I swear to God that all of you are weaker than women. Iraqi women are better than you. Again he threw his spit toward us and he left the meeting.”?

His bodyguards began beating us with sticks. Meanwhile, the senior officers were crying and saying long live Saddam.
After the meeting, Saddam’s guardians called us cowards and they insulted us. I told myself, the coward is the one who escapes from the battlefields. You are the real cowards that you did not take part in any battles.

In the way home to Zabuneh area located in Baghdad, I heard that the people were talking about the victory of Islamic forces and the defeat of Iraqi Army.

The newspaper wrote that our Army withdrew from Khorramshahr based on the demand of commandership. This was advertised widely enough to make the public opinion understand it and the people believed these sayings.

I told myself: The real rescue is not escaping from the war, but also it is getting rid of courage sign that for me has a sign of death sentence.

* Kamel Jaber (one of the officers of the Baath regime)

The End

Source: Information Base of Chemical Weapons Victims

Based on Navideshahed report, quoting the memoirs of Iraqi officers who were present in the war has a special freshness; because you can also be aware of the view of your enemy. This text is sourced from a handwritten of one of the Iraqi high ranking officials which has been written on the final night of the military operation “Beitol Moghadas”? and also the events which occurred after that in Iraq: ** What happened in Khorramshahr on the night of liberation? When the Islamic groups were able to kill our leading groups, they used all of their powers in the battlefields and at that night they entered the city by crossing the defense line. Due to the weakness of our forces, they would surrender at the beginning. These were those forces who led the Iranian forces toward mined areas and the storage of arms and ammunition, also toward the units that did not wish to surrender or to be involved in the battles. This situation continued throughout the night. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers were anxious in Khorramshahr and wandering from one side to the other side without knowing what they should do? But another group of soldiers with officers fought against Iranians so strongly, because they thought if they surrender, they will be executed. The officials had promised that if we get rid of this situation, we would be rewarded. General \\\"Khamis Aldelimi\\\" had raped three Arabic women and the other officials had committed the same crimes as well; that is why they were so afraid of their own destiny and they knew that there is no good fate for them but only to be executed. The resistance of this group had several reasons and these reasons included escape from captivity, escape from death, and fear of Saddam\\\'s wrath. On the next morning of 24 / 5 / 1982, the demand of attacking the Islamic group was issued which we were supposed to launch it at 7:00 AM on that day. The command was that the surrounded units to break the blockage and to continue advancement and to reach the Army that had been dispatched from Shalamche toward Khorramshahr. This command was issued while the spirit of our soldiers was very weak and they were pessimistic about the result of the war. Commanders did not have sufficient control over their members and since the units had been combined it was not clear what soldiers belong to what battalion. On the other hand, we also did not have ammunitions in the city. The tanks were out of order and no one dared to move them. The guns did not work too. New soldiers who were sent to Khorramshahr city they were not familiar with the map of the city and the mine fields. The military operation needed to be start from inside the city and it was not a right work, because Khorramashar was mostly in defensive mode not attack mode. Anyways according to the demands of the commanders, we started the attack. We used mechanized and armored systems as well. Although the soldiers were reluctant to this war, they would run along with the tanks. Maybe they would do it because of the severity of the hopelessness of lives. We made a lot of casualties, while we were not able to move more than a few meters, because the Islamic forces had closed the roads. I asked Major Abd Ali Hussein Al-Obudi, the commander of the third battalion from brigade 44th to say what we should do? Major started crying and he said: \\\"If we do not surrender, all of us will be killed.”? After an hour when we reached to a shelter I saw his dead body. They said that he has committed suicide; a bullet had hit his head. I did not believe it. Lt. Khalid Aldelimi also said: One of the soldiers killed him because he did not want to surrender. ** Involvement in the port of Khorramshahr The Tanks of Islamic forces advanced toward the regions where we had stationed at 1:00 o’clock and they faced with our firm arms. They also fired guns toward our surrounded troops. In this place there was a large bunker that all high-ranking officers had gathered there, and if an Iranian missile had struck them, a great tragedy would occur for us. The Iranian forces also had not full knowledge about this bunker and they did not try to fire towards this shelter because they were aware of the forces that were inside this bunker and they wanted to capture all of them. After the conflict, the Iranians with their speaker asked the Iraqi officers to surrender and then one of them that were fluent in Arabic language came to the bunker and he negotiated with the Iraqi officers. These officers had connected the Army 11 and had asked them what to do? They had been ordered not to surrender, when the negotiations was not followed with good results, the commander demanded that all of them to commit suicide. The commander mentioned this commander on behalf Saddam Hussein. The command divided the officers into two groups: 1 - The first group that based on the command of Staff Colonel Nazem Al-Khayat decided to surrender and let the Islamic forces to capture them. 2 - The second group that announced their readiness until the moment of death. The group’s leader was Staff Major Kheil Ibrahim and Lt. Col. Ghahtan Ibrahim. But Brigadier General Khamis Mokhalaf Abdol Rahman did not what to do and to join what group? When the Iranian soldier returned without any certain response, the officers considered colonel Nazem Al-Khayat as a hired worker and supporter of Islamic forces and they claimed that he has been the reason that they had been surrounded by the Islamic forces. Major Dakhil telephoned with the commandership and he made them aware of the existing situation. The Iraqi commandership sent some boats to the region to defend the surrounded officers, but the boats were not able to do anything for the officers. Some of them were drowned and some of them were not able to rescue themselves. The commandership dispatched a helicopter containing ammunition and food to the region, but the aid was taken by the Islamic forces. The group of officers who initially did not agree to surrender, they gave up their first words and decided to surrender. This issue occurred when the Iranian forces had captured the whole port and the armored units of Iran had surrounded the nearby shelter. In this shelter except a few high-ranking officers, the battalion commanders and the confidential documents and maps had been stored as well. In one of the documents it had been mentioned that if the city be captured by the Islamic forces, it must be attacked badly and the forces can use any types of weapons including the weapons which had been banned by the international community. ** 24 / 5 / 1982 The Islamic forces entered Khorramshahr on this day. First the Islamic Revolutionary Corps arrived there. Then the armored brigade and trucks arrived. The Iraqi soldiers would hide themselves in the alleys, streets and houses located there. Some of them would try to steal gold, silvers and many other objects at the same time without knowing where they should hide them. They would run from one place to another place seeking for a shelter, while the Iranian bullets were being shot toward them. The city was full of corpses of Iraqi soldiers, burnt tanks and damaged weapons. A large number of our forces that had been captured by the Iranians were taken to the back side of Iranian territories. Their clothes were torn. They did not have shoes and their bodies were bleeding. Some high-ranking officers who had hidden their military degrees attempted to escape from this situation. On 24 / 5 / 1982 the Iranians were able to fully capture the city. Khorramshahr\\\'s fall would be considered as a heavy blow to our commandership, because Khorramshahr was the winning card of Iraq. Abdol Jawad Zanun, the authority responsible for military intelligence on Khorramshahr had said: By having Khorramshahr, we can finish all the future negotiations in our interest. But the Islamic forces surprised the world with their plans because we never thought that the Iranian forces to advance from the north. Especially from the passing way number one, because this region was a region which had been covered with water. We did not think that the Iranians attack us from the side of Sadatah Al-Taahdati, because the best brigades had stationed in this war zone. Another point was that the area had been covered with mines and barbed wire and the water. These two axes had not been recorded in the military maps. Since we thought that the Iranians will attack us from Karun River, we prepared all of our equipments in this region, but we faced with surprise attacks. Iranians were successful in keeping secret their passageways in a way that their passageways were too far away from the eyes of our ground force and air force. Accordingly our artillery was not able to have an active role in this field. Also the Iranians were able to hide their military bridges, indeed they had constructed these bridges the same level as waters. The Iranians acted so successfully at the beginning of their advancement and they were able to come to Ahvaz - Khorramshahr road without involving conflicts with us. Then they gathered their forces and they could cause a heavy blow against our forces in Sadatah Al-taahdati region. ** How we were rescued from Khorramshahr? On 24 May after the fall of Khorramshahr, a number of our units we able to escape. I rode a transport ship in which there were many dead bodies of some officers. I threw out the bodies and I moved and I arrived to Arvand River, though the Iranians had shut the ways. I removed my military rank as well. The soldiers thought that I’m a soldier too, that is why they were insulting the officers in the way and they would curse them. One of them said: These dogs caused the conflicts between us. When I arrived to Arvand River I told them: All the roads have been closed by the Islamic forces. One of the soldiers said: So we must cross Arvand River. I said: I do not know how to swim. One of them said: \\\"We will help you. We took off our uniforms. Suddenly, a rocket struck the boat and burned it. We started to swim. Bullets from both sides would be fired above us. It was a strange limbo. A bomb was exploded near us and it caused one of the soldiers to sink so immediately. After an hour we reached to the other side of Arvand River. All our troops were retreating and no one was thinking about the other. The injured had been abandoned and the deaths had been fallen inside the mud with their weapons. Some were taking transport ships, weapons and ammunition to other areas. We jumped into one of them which were moving with high speed. We did not know where it was going. Some soldiers were drinking wines inside the ammunition. In the area Alnashve, lots of soldiers and transport ships had been gathered, because there was only one way to pass that all wanted to pass through it. However the transport ship moved. I felt that I’m not alive anymore. I was wishing that I wish I was a dead stock, so that I would stay safe from the government of Saddam Hussein. We arrived to Alnashve. Some soldiers were in the military station. Colonel Ali Hantush told me: Thanks God, you are alive, because we have written your name in the list of missing persons. On 26 May, all the brigades who had remained healthy withdrew. It was a very bad day because the military commandership issued the execution demand of Zidan. Colonel Ahmad due to injury walked with a stick. He told me: I wished to be a commander of a region. But mine has betrayed me. I smiled and said: I think that the sign of courage is very high for us. He told me: At the time of courage sign distribution, Saddam said: \\\"I am not satisfied with your resistance in Khorramshahr. These signs are only logos to cover up the losses from the public opinion. I wish you had been killed but you had not retreated. He looked at us so angrily. Then he threw a spit toward us and he said: “you darkened our face and the face of history. Why didn’t you use chemical weapons? I don’t get calm as long as I see your heads under tanks wheels. Saddam expressed many words, that I can not say all of them. At this time I realized the cruelty of Saddam Hussein. Perhaps at that time that was God’s will which we were able to be freed from Saddam Hussein’s grip; because he was so upset and nervous in a way that he broke the glass of water that was in his hand and splashed the glass powders toward us. After that he hit one of the other glasses on the ground and its pieces were dispersed in the hall. Then he shouted: \\\"O woe Khorramshahr was lost. Now how can we get it again? At this time General Saj Al-Delimi stood up and he said: Excuse me sir ... Saddam looked at him angrily and he said: \\\"Shut up fool, coward. All of you are cowards and must be executed.”? I prepared myself for death and said in my heart, Hey Kamel, the son of Jaber. Tonight, you will die and your body will be lost as well. Saddam shouted: \\\"Why didn’t you use chemical weapons against them? One of the officers said: sir, in this case chemical weapons could harm our own forces, because we were so close to the enemy. Saddam shouted: That was no problem, Khorramshahr was more important or the life of your soldiers? You idiot! He was cursing continuously. In a way that I realized that this man has nothing of humanity. When General Neibol Al-Rabieyee started talking; I thought Saddam Hussein will forgive him, but as long as his words were finished, Saddam Hussein took of his shoe and threw at him. His shoe went among the line of officers. The bodyguards brought the shoe for Saddam Hussein. At the end of his speech he said: \\\"I do not see any man here in front of myself. I swear to God that all of you are weaker than women. Iraqi women are better than you. Again he threw his spit toward us and he left the meeting.”? His bodyguards began beating us with sticks. Meanwhile, the senior officers were crying and saying long live Saddam. After the meeting, Saddam’s guardians called us cowards and they insulted us. I told myself, the coward is the one who escapes from the battlefields. You are the real cowards that you did not take part in any battles. In the way home to Zabuneh area located in Baghdad, I heard that the people were talking about the victory of Islamic forces and the defeat of Iraqi Army. The newspaper wrote that our Army withdrew from Khorramshahr based on the demand of commandership. This was advertised widely enough to make the public opinion understand it and the people believed these sayings. I told myself: The real rescue is not escaping from the war, but also it is getting rid of courage sign that for me has a sign of death sentence. * Kamel Jaber (one of the officers of the Baath regime) The End Source: Information Base of Chemical Weapons Victims