Left: Former Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, reacts during cross-examination at his trial, in Baghdad's Green Zone, on April 5, 2006.   Right: Al-Majeed Reuters

BAGHDAD (Reuters):

Saddam Hussein and his cousin, 'Chemical Ali', discussed killing thousands with chemical weapons before unleashing them on Kurds, in 1988, according to tapes played yesterday in a trial of former Iraqi officials.

Nine days after Saddam's hanging, his front-row seat in the dock was conspicuously empty, but Ali Hassan al-Majeed and five other Baath party officials remain on trial for their roles in the 1988 Anfal, or Spoils of War, campaign in northern Iraq.

"I will strike them with chemical weapons and kill them all," a voice identified by prosecutors as that of Majeed, Saddam's cousin and a senior aide, is heard saying.

"Who is going to say anything? The international community? A curse on the international community!" the voice continued.

"Yes, it's effective, especially on those who don't wear a mask immediately, as we understand," another voice, identified as that of Saddam, is heard saying on another tape.

"Sir, does it exterminate thousands?" a voice asks back.

"Yes, it exterminates thousands and forces them not to eat or drink and they will have to evacuate their homes without taking anything with them, until we can finally purge them," the voice identified as Saddam's answers.

MANY KURDS GASSED

Prosecutors did not explain who ordered the recordings or when or why they were made and court officials could not elaborate. Audio tapes have been introduced in the court before and Saddam is believed to have recorded some of his meetings.

Prosecutors said 180,000 people were killed, many of them gassed. Many Kurds regret the chief suspect can no longer face justice for his role in the campaign against them, but they hope others share his fate on the gallows.

Saddam was hanged on December 30, 2006, after being convicted in an earlier trial for his role in killing 148 Shi'ites in the 1980s.

Majeed, who faces charges of genocide, is considered the main enforcer of the Anfal campaign. The gassing of 5,000 people in the town of Halabja is the subject of a separate case.