"There were war prisoners," he said. "They were released."
Why raise weapons against the state?
"One goal was liberation," Mosa said, "to have Kurdish identity, democracy and peace."
Why didn't he lay down his weapons, as the Iraqi government had requested?
"The amnesties were false," he said. "They were just trying to arrest us."
At one point, Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," Saddam's commander in the north at that time, stood up and asked Mosa if he knew anyone who had served in the Iraqi forces.
Mosa said Kurdish political parties had governed the area where he lived.
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