As reports of Iraq’s chemical attacks on Iranian troops became all but irrefutable, he maintained official denials in public while subtly justifying Iraq’s actions. The Iranians “have very little problem in sending thousands of brainwashed boys and young men to the front lines to meet a certain death,” he said. Iraq merely sought to “minimize casualties” among its own troops in the face of this inhumane onslaught. “We don’t believe in a ‘clean’ war,” Hamdoon continued. “All wars are ugly.”[25]
