Saddam Witness: Crackdown Justified
Tariq Aziz, once the most prominent public face of Saddam Hussein's regime but now thin and pale in his checkered pajamas, defended his former boss in court Wednesday, saying Iraq's current Shiite leaders should be on trial for trying to kill him and Saddam in the 1980s.
The 70-year-old Aziz, who appeared in public for the first time since the 2003 U.S. led-invasion, during which he turned himself in to American forces, is the most famous Saddam-era figure to take the stand so far in the 7-month-old trial.
Aziz, a former foreign minister and deputy prime minister, insisted Saddam had no choice but to crack down in the Shiite town of Dujail after a July 8, 1982 shooting attack on his motorcade there, blamed on the Shiite Dawa Party backed by Iran.
"It was an assassination attempt against the president, and this party also tried to assassinate me in 1980," Aziz said. "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."
Aziz's lawyers and family have said he has heart problems and have been pressing for the U.S. military to allow him to get treatment abroad, though American officials have insisted he gets adequate care in prison.
Aziz, known during his time in office for his designer suits, wore pajamas in the witness stand and looked pale and weak, though his dress may have been chosen to emphasize his poor health. The defendants and other witnesses who are in U.S. custody have been able to wear what they choose and often appear decked out in their best clothes.
Though his voice was hoarse, he spoke firmly and launched into a lively denunciation of the Dawa Party, to which the head of Iraq's current government, Nouri al-Maliki, and his predecessor Ibrahim al-Jaafari, belong.
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Aziz said Dawa Party activists threw a hand grenade at him during an April 1980 visit to Baghdad's Mustansiriya University, an attack he claimed killed dozens of students.
When chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman told him to stick to the Dujail case, he protested that the Dujail shooting was "part of a series of attacks and assassination attempts by this group."
"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.
He insisted that in government meetings following the shooting, Saddam did not bring up Dujail and never ordered his co-defendants
former Mukhabarat intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim and former Revolutionary Command Council member Taha Yassin Ramadan — to carry out the wave of arrests in Dujail.
The defense has been making its case for the past two weeks in the trial of Saddam and seven other former regime members on charges of crimes against humanity in the Dujail crackdown. Hundreds of Shiite men, women and children were arrested, some allegedly tortured to death and 148 were ordered sent to the gallows.
Saddam and his co-defendants could face execution by hanging if convicted of the charges. A series of defense witnesses took the stand Wednesday, including former Saddam bodyguards, testifying that the Dujail shooting was a serious attack on the then-president, apparently to justify the response.
Saddam stood up during the session and gave a defense of his half-brother Ibrahim and Yassin, saying he did not order them to investigate the Dujail attack.
"This issue took its normal path. The security service is in charge of Iraqis inside Iraq while Mukhabarat was in charge of foreigners inside Iraq and Iraqis outside Iraq." Saddam said. "I didn't order either Taha or Barzan in the Dujail issue."
"Why accuse Taha and Barzan in such a wrong way? But you see the director of General Security or you ask the interior minister .. that's a natural thing. But to accuse someone who doesn't have anything to do with it is not normal," he said.
The session saw more of the fierce arguments that have characterized the stormy trial, with Abdel-Rahman shouting at the defense team to stop trying to argue that the court is unfair.
"You don't have a defense plan, so you just insult the court," Abdel-Rahman shouted at chief defense lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi when he complained the judge wasn't letting them speak.
But Aziz was the focus of the session, both in and out of the courtroom, where proceedings are to continue on Monday.
During Saddam's autocratic rule, Aziz was seen as the regime's more humane and urbane face at home and abroad. He was often representing it at the United Nations, seen in its halls in designer suits and a cigar in his mouth.
Aziz remains in U.S. custody and could face a future trial, though prosecutors in the special tribunal trying former regime elements have not decided on any charges.
In Baghdad, Iraqis crowded around television sets in coffee shops and other public places to watch his testimony.
"Even though Aziz is part of the previous government, his hands are clean and pure, he doesn't have any role in criminal acts," said Wissam George, an engineer and, like Aziz, a Christian.
Omar al-Jabouri, a 35-year-old doctoral student, looked sadly on Aziz's poor state. "We used to see Mr. Aziz looking very handsome, but today we see him in pajamas, which means they don't take care for the humanitarian side," he said.
His condemnations against Dawa struck a chord among some in the Sunni Arab minority that once held sway under Saddam and now feels discriminated against by the new Shiite leadership, seen as linked to Iran.
"Aziz spoke frankly and clearly about the Iranian aims and their intentions," said Osama Ahmed, a university professor. "It's proven now, they planned to control Iraq."