No WMD? Hmmm. Saddam will stand to explain himself on Judgement Day.

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A Dutch businessman sold chemicals to Iraq knowing Saddam Hussein would use them to carry out poison gas attacks that killed thousands of people, prosecutors told the start of his trial on Monday.
Frans van Anraat, 63, is charged with complicity in war crimes and genocide for supplying agents for poison gas used by Iraq in the 1980-1988 war with Iran and against its own Kurdish population, including a 1988 attack on the town of Halabja.

Van Anraat admits supplying the chemicals but denies knowing they were destined for Iraq and would be used to make poison gas.

"He is being accused of delivering raw materials necessary to build Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons. The use of those weapons by the regime in Baghdad led to the death of thousands in Iraq and Iran," prosecutor Fred Teeven told the court.
"He is complicit in serious international crimes."

Prosecutors accuse the Dutchman of shipping chemicals from the United States to Belgium and from there to Iraq via Jordan, and from Japan to Baghdad through Italy.
A key witness statement read out in court suggested he discussed with a Japanese business partner how best to describe the use of the chemicals for something other than weapons, but Van Anraat contested it.

"The declaration by (business partner) Tanaka is incorrect," Van Anraat said after sitting silently with arms crossed for most of the session.
The court was packed with relatives of Halabja victims and members of Kurdish organizations.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF VICTIMS
A small group outside the Hague court displayed photographs of Kurdish victims of chemical weapons and held a red banner reading "Genocide Never Again". The Halabja attack on March 16, 1988, killed an estimated 5,000 people.
"I hope he gets a life sentence," said Amir Gadir of Victims of Genocide Against Kurds in Halabja.
But one of Van Anraat's lawyers, Ruud Gijsen, told Reuters outside the court: "Van Anraat did not know about the intended use of the raw materials and did not know what their final destination was."
Prosecutors said last December that information from several sources suggested he knew of their planned use and destination.

"The prosecution will have to prove the raw materials were used in weapons and that these weapons were used in the village to come to a conviction," said another of Van Anraat's lawyers, Jan Peter van Schaik.
United Nations weapons inspectors have said Van Anraat was an important middleman supplying Iraq with chemical agents.

The first Dutchman to be tried on genocide-related charges, Van Anraat faces up to life in prison if convicted. The trial, for which statements were taken from around 100 witnesses, is expected to last about three weeks. A verdict is due on December 23.
Iranian and Iraqi victims of chemical attacks plan to seek up to 10,000 euros compensation each from the accused.

"Ten of my relatives died. My parents, sisters and brothers were wounded," said Danya Mohammad, 28, one of 16 Halabja victims who have launched a separate suit against Van Anraat.
A past criminal investigation by U.S. customs authorities found Van Anraat had been involved in four shipments to Iraq of thiodiglycol, an industrial chemical which can be used to make mustard gas. It also has civilian uses.
Van Anraat was first detained in Milan in 1989 following a U.S. request but was released after two months. He then fled to Iraq, where it is thought he stayed until the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, when he returned to the Netherlands through Syria.

He was arrested by Dutch officials last December as he was preparing to leave the country.

__________________