Chemical Ali, to conduct Anfal against the Kurds. The empowerment further allowed Majeed to annul all previous directives that might have hindered the practice of his new powers. (See index for the text of the directive.)
Saddam’s Anfal scheme had four phases: Anfal I, Anfal II, Anfal III, and the Closing. Geographically,
the campaign targeted the entire areas of Iraq’s Kurdish region. It was a systematic process that included the destruction and demolition of villages, the looting and gathering of the spoils, the forceful relocation of people, acts of dishonor, and mass murder. The entire process, from 1987 to 1989, resulted in the complete destruction of 1,276 out of 3,839 villages and townships,(23) and the elimination of 180,000 Kurds. Only what the Nazis did or the Serbians did to the Bosnians was as systematic as the Anfal Campaign against the Kurds.
For example, a government-issued directive labeled “private and confidential” uncovered after the 1991 uprising of the Iraqi Kurds against the Iraqi regime describes Anfal as a heroic and successful campaign. It states how 2,532 people and 1,869 families were arrested and transferred to an enclosed camp.(24) Meanwhile, when a Kurdish delegation held negations with government offi55