Tariq Aziz
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Tariq Aziz, also Tareq Aziz, born Mikhail Yuhanna (Arabic: طارق عزيز, Syriac: ܜܪܩ ܥܙܝܙ) (born 1936 in Tel Keppe, Iraq) was the Foreign Minister (1983–1991) and Deputy Prime Minister (1979–2003) of Iraq, and a close advisor of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for decades. Their association began in the 1950s, when both were Ba'ath party activists, while the party was still officially banned.
Since Saddam Hussein was both Prime Minister and President of Iraq, Aziz often played the role of Iraq's de facto head of government. Because of security concerns, Hussein rarely left Iraq, and Aziz in turn would often represent Iraq at high-level diplomatic summits. In December 2002, Aziz called the arms inspection a "hoax" and war "inevitable." What the U.S. wanted, he averred, was not "regime change" in Iraq but rather "region change." He summed up the Bush Administration's reasons for war against Iraq tersely: "oil and Israel." Aziz's Chaldean Catholic Christian faith made him unique among Iraqi government figures working for Saddam Hussein since he was not Muslim.
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[edit] Biography
Aziz was born in Tel Keppe, a village near the city of Mosul, in northern Iraq. The son of a waiter, he was originally named Mikhael Yuhanna, but later changed it to Tariq Aziz. Born a Catholic (a Chaldo-Assyrian), he was the only Christian in Saddam's government.
He studied English at the Baghdad College of Fine Arts, and later worked as a journalist, before joining the Ba'ath Party.
In April 1980 he survived an Iranian-backed assassination attempt carried out by the Islamic Dawa Party members.
He attempted to retire from Saddam's government at one point. However, it was rumored that Saddam forced Aziz to remain in his position as Deputy Prime Minister. [citation needed]
[edit] Audience with the Pope
On February 14, 2003, Aziz had an audience with Pope John Paul II and other officials in Vatican City, where, according to a Vatican statement, he communicated "the wish of the Iraqi government to co-operate with the international community, notably on disarmament". The same statement said that the Pope "insisted on the necessity for Iraq to faithfully respect and give concrete commitments to resolutions of the UN Security Council, which is the guarantor of international law".
[edit] Iraq war and arrest
On March 19, 2003, reports surfaced from Iraq that Aziz had been shot dead while trying to enter the Kurdish part of the country. The rumor was quashed rather quickly when Aziz held a press conference assuring the world he was still alive and well. After the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, his home was quickly looted by Iraqis. He surrendered to American forces on April 24, 2003. He was the 43rd of 55 most-wanted Iraqi leadership members sought by U.S. forces after the Fall of Baghdad in the 2003 Iraq War. Before the war, Aziz claimed he would rather die than be a U.S. prisoner of war: "Do you expect me, after all my history as a militant and as one of the Iraqi leaders, to go to an American prison -- to go to Guantanamo? I would rather die", he told Britain's ITV. His attorney was expected to be Jacques Verges.
He is set to appear before the Iraq Special Tribunal set up by the Iraq Interim Government.
In May 24, 2006, Aziz, testified in Baghdad as a defense witness for Ibrahim Barzan and Mukhabarat employees, claiming that they did not have any role in the 1982 Dujail crackdown. He stated that the arrests were in response to the assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein, which was carried out by the Shiite Dawa Party. "If the head of state comes under attack, the state is required by law to take action. If the suspects are caught with weapons, it's only natural they should be arrested and put on trial". [1]
He further testified that the Dujail attack was "part of a series of attacks and assassination attempts by this group, including against me." He said that in 1980, Dawa Party activists threw a grenade at him as he visited a Baghdad university, killing civilians around him. "I'm a victim of a criminal act conducted by this party, which is in power right now. So put it on trial. Its leader was the prime minister and his deputy is the prime minister right now and they killed innocent Iraqis in 1980," he said. The Dawa Party is now a party in the Shiite coalition that dominates the Iraqi government. The party's leader, Ibrahim al-Jaafari was prime minister until mid-May, when another leading Dawa Party figure, Nouri al-Maliki was picked and he was able to form a new government before the end of May.[2]
In closing he stated that "Saddam is my colleague and comrade for decades, and Barzan is my brother and my friend and he is not responsible about Dujail's events," Aziz said.
[edit] Aziz plea
On May 29, 2005, The British newspaper The Observer published letters (in Arabic and English) from Aziz addressed to "world public opinion" pleading for international help to end "his dire situation". [3]
He wrote in one of the letters "It is imperative that there is intervention into our dire situation and treatment..."
On another one, he wrote: "We hope that you will help us. We have been in prison for a long time and we have been cut from our families. No contacts, no phones, no letters. Even the parcels sent to us by our families are not given to us. We need a fair treatment, a fair investigation and finally a fair trial. Please help us."
The newspaper said that the letters were written on April 21 although one note is signed on March 7.
In August 2005, Aziz's family were allowed to visit him. He confirmed that he was being treated well and was being given his medicine for his heart condition. He had noticeably lost weight, but was happy to have done so, as he suffers from diabetes. The location of Aziz's prison remains undisclosed - his family were brought in a bus with blackened out windows.
The letters can be found here on PDF format [4].
[edit] Quotes
- "I'm a victim of a criminal act conducted by this party, which is in power right now. So put it on trial. Its leader was the prime minister and his deputy is the prime minister right now and they killed innocent Iraqis in 1980" referring to the Dawa Party that is now a party in the Shiite coalition.
[edit] External links
- Tariq Aziz faces US questions - BBC, April 25, 2003
- Tariq Aziz Profile - BBC, October 11, 2002
