On the "other web site" therer is a somewhat different etymology of the word Alchemy....

[www.grahamhancock.com]

However in it's latest incarnation it became a nickname ("Al Chemical" only this is definitely 21'st century meaning "The Chemical") for I believe Saddam Hussein's brother in law who gassed the Kurds and dumped the Alchemists best known chemical "sulfuric acid" from helicopters on rioters in an effort to put down the revolts after the Americans liberated Kuwait.

Strange how the past keeps coming back to haunt us in a million different ways