Observer: The extraordinary pleas of Saddam's right-hand man (Tariq Aziz)

[Bozita]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1494897,00.html

The extraordinary pleas of Saddam's right-hand man

Letters from Iraq's former deputy PM Tariq Aziz insist he is innocent and claim he is being held illegally

Antony Barnett
Sunday May 29, 2005
The Observer

He was the urbane, English-speaking deputy to Saddam Hussein, the bespectacled face of the former Iraqi dictator's regime, at home on the international stage.

Yet nothing had been heard or seen from Tariq Aziz since he surrendered to US forces on 24 April, 2003, as Iraq crumbled around him.

Today The Observer publishes several letters from the former cigar-smoking Deputy Prime Minister handwritten from Camp Cropper prison in Baghdad. Aziz scribbled these notes on pages from his lawyer's diary who was with him when he was questioned recently by the CIA and US politicians.

Two are in Arabic, the other three in English and addressed to: 'The world public opinion.' Aziz pleads for international help to end his 'dire situation'. He claims he is innocent and is being held unjustly without being allowed contact with his family. One letter reveals questions he had been asked about which politicians benefited from the controversial UN oil-for-food programme.

more...

[necso]

1. Even if this guy won't say what

the neocons want him to (various lies), one suspects that others might.

The neocons are eager to hang the oil-for-food deal (and anything else that they can) on those that they consider enemies -- truth be damned.

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. Cringing in anticipation of all the responses of "Good. Rot.,"

I'll only note here that even the most despicable Nazi murderers were at the very least given the benefit of a formal charge and trial under established principles of evidence and jurisprudence, and were - gasp - allowed family visits during their imprisonment.

That was, of course, the "old days," when we at least pretended to be a nation of laws rather than a pack of international kidnappers.

[Maple]

3. Wasn't there something about

him being held in the UK all this time...on one of Prince Charles more remote estates?

[Bozita]

4. Q. How does the US claim the moral high ground?

A. We bombed it. We invaded it. It's ours.

Moral: If you've got oil under your ground, we've got you in our sights.

[IndianaGreen]

5. The immoral thing is that Aziz gave the CIA info about Saddam

and now we are treating him as if we had never heard of him before.

[daleo]

6. Aziz seemed fairly reasonable in the run up to both wars (91 and 03)

The neo-cons might hate him just for that. Also, they probably think it would be a great p.r. coupe if he would turn in their favor. He is a marked man for both these reasons. I guess the kind of Christian he is, isn't good enough for fundies.