Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s loyal deputy, Tariq Aziz, has accused US President Barack Obama of “leaving Iraq to the wolves” by pressing ahead with a withdrawal of combat troops in the face of festering instability and a surge in violence.
In his first interview since he was captured shortly after the fall of Baghdad more than seven years ago, Iraq’s former deputy prime minister said the US would devastate Iraq if it continued to withdraw its combat forces.
“We are all victims of America and Britain,” he told the Guardian from his prison cell in Baghdad.
“They killed our country in many ways. When you make a mistake you need to correct a mistake, not leave Iraq to its death. If he takes the troops away now, Iraq will fall again. And there will be no way back from where it will fall to,” he said.
Speaking days after Obama confirmed that the US would be ending its combat mission in Iraq this month with the withdrawal of thousands of troops, Aziz said the country was in a worse state than before the war.
“For 30 years Saddam built Iraq and now it is destroyed. There are more sick than before, more hungry. The people don’t have services. People are being killed every day in the tens, if not hundreds. I was encouraged when [Obama] was elected president, because I thought he was going to correct some of the mistakes of Bush. But Obama is a hypocrite. He is leaving Iraq to the wolves,” Aziz said.
Aziz has been found guilty on one charge of crimes against humanity, relating to the summary execution of 42 merchants accused of fixing food prices while Iraq was under sanctions. He is serving a 15-year sentence but faces many more charges. He is incarcerated in a clean and well-managed small prison in Qadhimiyah in the north of Baghdad, after being handed over to Iraqi authorities by US forces several months ago.
He said he refuses to criticize Saddam and his regime, and compared the Iraqi dictator to former British prime minister Winston Churchill, suggesting that both had made mistakes.
“If I speak now about regrets, people will view me as an opportunist. I will not speak against Saddam until I am a free man. Wisdom is part of freedom. When I am free and can write the truth I can even speak against my best friend,” he said.
But he went on to mount a strong defense of the former Iraqi dictator.
Saddam, who was executed in 2006 after being captured by US forces, was at the center of three wars, 12 years of sanctions and the brutal suppression of two uprisings, all of which Aziz had to sell to the world as deputy prime minister and foreign minister.
“Wars are wars, and there are reasons for them,” he said of Saddam’s belligerence. “Saddam did not lie. He did not change the facts. He is someone for whom I have a great respect and love. He is a man who history will show served his country. Saddam built the country and served the people. I can not accept your [the West’s] judgment that he was wrong,” Aziz said.
“Didn’t Churchill make mistakes? Didn’t [former British prime minister Gordon] Brown make mistakes? Did the British ministers stand up at the time and point out the lies of their leaders? No. They spoke later,” he said.
Aziz claimed he had tried to persuade Saddam not to invade Kuwait in 1991, because it would lead Iraq into a war with the US within a few years of the debilitating decade-long conflict with Iran.
“I asked Saddam Hussein not to invade Kuwait,” he said. “But I had to support the decision of the majority. When the decision was taken, I said to him this is going to lead to war with the US, and it is not in our interests to wage war against the US.”
Casting himself as an unquestioning patriot, Aziz continued: “But the decision was taken. I was the foreign minister of the country and I had to defend the country and do everything possible to explain our position. I stayed on the side of right.”
Throughout the next decade of UN-enforced sanctions and the oil-for-food program, Aziz claimed he and Saddam managed to nourish all Iraqis and maintain stability throughout the country.
“Even during the time of sanctions, which is a difficult time in the life of any country, every day, every man, woman and child was taking 2,000 calories,” he said.
As another conflict with the UN and US loomed ahead of the 2003 invasion, Aziz said he tried to convince the world that its fears that Iraq was concealing a secret weapons program were unfounded.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS