Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali", is on trial again in Baghdad together with 14 other aides of Saddam Hussein. They are charged with the suppression of a Shia uprising after the 1991 Gulf War.
This is the third trial held by the Iraq High Tribunal.
Majid and two other defendants have already been sentenced to death, in an earlier trial, for crimes against the Kurdish population.
The uprising happened when the then President of the US, George Bush senior, had called on the Iraqi people and the military to oust Saddam.
However, Bush chose not to cross the border into Iraq and Saddam was able to launch a counter-attack with tanks and helicopters.
Bush senior argued that while he hoped a popular revolt would topple Saddam, he did not want to see the break-up of the Iraqi state.
It is therefore somewhat ironic that the actions of his son, by invading Iraq, have most likely brought about the break up of Iraq.
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