Tariq Aziz

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Tariq Aziz
Tariq Aziz, c. 2005
member of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council 5th Deputy Prime Minister[1]
In office July 16, 1979 – April 9, 2003
Succeeded by	Jay Garner, as Head of the Coalition Provisional Authority
Foreign Minister
In office 1979 – 1991
Born	April 28, 1936 (1936-04-28) (age 72) Tel Keppe, Iraq
Political party	Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party
Religion	Assyrian Christian

Mikhail Yuhanna, (Arabic: ميخائيل يوحنا, Mīḫāʾīl Yūḥannā‎) later and more popularly known as Tariq Aziz or Tareq Aziz, (Arabic: طارق عزيز‎, Ṭāriq ʿAzīz; Syriac: ܜܪܩ ܥܙܝܙ) (born April 28, 1936 in Tel Keppe) was the Foreign Minister (1983 – 1991) and Deputy Prime Minister (1979 – 2003) of Iraq, and a close advisor of former 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. What the United States 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."^[2]

Aziz is currently in prison in Camp Cropper in western Baghdad,^[3] at the direction of the United States government. He was acquitted of some charges on March 1 2009 following a trial, but was jailed for 15 years on March 11 2009 for his role in the executions of 42 merchants found guilty of profiteering in 1992.^[4]

Contents 1 Biography 2 Political life 3 Audience with the Pope 4 Iraq war 5 Iraq and weapons of mass destruction 6 Surrender 7 Defense witness 8 In prison 9 Trial 10 Family 11 References 12 External links

[edit] Biography

Aziz was born at Tell Kaif to a Assyrian Christian family, an Iraqi minority group. Originally named Mikhail Yuhanna (Michael John), he changed his name to Tariq Aziz to allay any hostile sentiments towards his Christian heritage. Aziz studied English at the Baghdad University of Fine Arts, and later worked as a journalist, before joining the Ba'ath Party in 1957. In 1963, he was editor of the newspaper Aj-Jamahir (al-Jamaheer) and al Thawra, the newspaper of the Ba'ath party. ^[5]

In April 1980 he survived an Iranian-backed assassination attempt carried out by members of the Islamic Dawa Party. In the attack, members of Islamic Dawa Party threw a grenade at Aziz in central Baghdad. The attack killed several people.^[6] It was among the casus belli of the Iran–Iraq War.

[edit] Political life

He began to rise through the ranks of Iraqi politics after the Ba'ath party came to power in 1968. He served as a member of the Regional Command, the Baath Party's highest governing organization from 1974 to 1977, and in 1977 became a member of Saddam's Revolutionary Command Council.

In 1979, Aziz became Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, and worked as a diplomat to explain Iraq's policies to the world. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Tariq Aziz served as the international spokesman in support of the military action. He claimed the invasion was justified because Kuwait's increased oil production was harming Iraqi oil revenues. He condemned Arab states for "subservience to the United States' hegemony in the Middle East and their support for punitive sanctions.^[7]

On January 9, 1991, Aziz was involved in the Geneva Peace Conference which included the United States Secretary of State, James Baker. The goal of the meeting was to discuss a possible resolution to the occupation of Kuwait.

[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 United Nations Security Council, which is the guarantor of international law".

[edit] Iraq war

In October 2000 the then-junior Minister for Foreign Affairs from Britain, Mr. Peter Hain, set up a secret war avoidance team to carry messages back and forth between himself and Aziz.^[8] After initial cooperation, Aziz rebuffed the delegations.^[8]

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 rumour 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Iraq and weapons of mass destruction

In the run up to war President George W. Bush claimed Tariq Aziz as one of the Iraqi regime that was responsible for hiding Iraqi WMD:

“	President Bush expressed unshakable confidence Saturday about finding banned weapons in Iraq and complained that Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein's closest deputies, is not cooperating with U.S. forces who have him in custody. Bush said the deputy prime minister, the most visible face of the former Iraqi government other than Saddam, 'still doesn't know how to tell the truth.'	”
	— USA Today [9]

[edit] Surrender

He surrendered to American forces on April 24, 2003. He was the 43rd, later 25th, 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.

[edit] Defense witness

On 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". ^[10]

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 insurgents 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.^[10] 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 2006.^[11]

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 for Dujail's events."

[edit] In prison

On May 29, 2005, the British newspaper The Observer published letters (in Arabic and English) from Aziz written in April and May 2005 addressed to "world public opinion" pleading for international help to end "his dire situation":^[12]

“	It is imperative that there is intervention into our dire situation and treatment ... 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.	”
	— Tariq Aziz[13]

In August 2005, Aziz's family was allowed to visit him. At the time the location of Aziz's prison was undisclosed; his family was brought in a bus with blackened out windows.

Due to security reasons he has since been moved to Camp Cropper, part of the huge US base surrounding Baghdad airport.^[14] His son has said that while his father is in poor health, he is being well treated by prison officials. He can make 30 minutes of telephone calls monthly and has access to US Arabic-language radio and television stations. Every two months his family can send a parcel containing clothes, cigarettes, chocolate, coffee and magazines.^[14]

The spiritual leader of Iraq's Assyrian Christian community, Emmanuel III Delly, has regularly called for Aziz's release.^[15]

[edit] Trial

He was set to appear before the Iraq Special Tribunal set up by the Iraq Interim Government but until April, 2008 he was not brought up on any charges.^[15] This changed when on April 29, 2008, Aziz went on trial over the deaths of a group of 42 merchants who were summarily executed in 1992. The merchants were charged by the regime with manipulating food prices when Iraq was under international sanctions.^[16] Aziz was being represented by Giovanni di Stefano^[17][14] but in May 2008 Aziz demanded a new legal team. The new legal team includes Jacques Verges as well as four Italian lawyers and a French-Lebanese.^[18] On March 2, 2009, Aziz was acquitted of these charges, but stays in custody.^[19]

He may face more charges in connection with the crushing of the Shia Muslim uprising after the 1991 Gulf War.^[14]

He was sentenced to, on the 11th March, 2009, fifteen years in jail for crimes against humanity. ^[20]

[edit] Family

His son Ziad Aziz, 42, lives in Amman with his wife, four children, and Tariq Aziz's two sisters. Tariq Aziz's wife and another son live in Yemen.^[15]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tariq Aziz

• Tariq Aziz faces US questions - BBC, April 25, 2003
• Tariq Aziz Profile - BBC, October 11, 2002
• Tariq Aziz at the Internet Movie Database