Tariq Aziz Blames Saddam Hussein

(Baghdad, Iraq) A transcript has been released of Tariq Aziz's interrogation last week before the Iraqi Special Tribunal created for the purpose of trying Saddam and his top henchmen.


Tariq Aziz
From the Gulf Times:

Iraq's Tariq Aziz said ousted president Saddam Hussain personally ordered the suppression of a Shia uprising in 1991 without reference to top aides, in new interrogation footage released yesterday.

Aziz, who rose to the post of deputy prime minister in Saddam's regime and was one of its best-known faces abroad, said the president had absolute power in such matters, unbridled even by the 10-member Revolutionary Command Council.

"Sometime in the 1980s - I do not remember when - an order came out that the president has the right to issue decrees that would have the force of law without having to consult or discuss these decisions with members of the Revolutionary Command Council," Aziz told the judge during the interrogation six days ago.

"Who issued this order?" asked the judge of the Iraqi Special Tribunal created to try Saddam and senior aides.

"The president himself," answered Aziz.

So, in this latest session, it appears that Aziz is prepared to lay all blame on Saddam Hussein. Of course, we can't trust that his current statements will be anything like his next. Last December, for example, it was reported that Aziz was "ready to name names," however, another report a week later indicated that he "is unwilling to testify against Saddam Hussein at a future war crimes trial."

It's probably prudent not to believe Tariq Aziz.