Ex-Saddam minister: Wrong people on trial

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer
48 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A pajama-clad Tariq Aziz, once the most prominent public face of Saddam Hussein's regime, defended his former boss in court Wednesday and said Iraq's current Shiite leaders should be on trial for attempts to kill him and Saddam in the 1980s.

The 70-year-old Aziz, a former foreign minister and deputy prime minister, appeared thin and pale in his checkered pajamas and wore what looked like a hospital bracelet on his right wrist. His family has said he suffers from heart trouble.

Aziz, appearing in public for the first time since turning himself in to the Americans during the 2003 U.S. led-invasion, is the best-known Saddam-era figure to take the stand in the seven-month-old trial.

Aziz 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."

Hundreds of men, women and children were arrested by security forces after the assassination attempt. Some prisoners allegedly were tortured to death and 148 Shiites were ordered sent to the gallows by Saddam's Revolutionary Court for alleged roles in the attempt.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants could be hanged if convicted of crimes against humanity for their involvement in the crackdown.

The defense has been making its case for the past two weeks. A series of defense witnesses took the stand Wednesday — including former Saddam bodyguards — and testified that the Dujail shooting was a serious attack on the then-president.

One bodyguard, Abed Abdel-Hameed Mahmoud al-Tikriti, said a woman put a bloody handprint on Saddam's car to mark it for attack, so Saddam was put into a different car.

Aziz insisted Saddam did not bring up Dujail during later government meetings and never ordered co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim, the former Mukhabarat intelligence chief, or Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former Revolutionary Command Council member, to carry out the wave of arrests in Dujail.

Though his voice was hoarse, Aziz spoke firmly and gave 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.

He 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.

The defendants and other witnesses in U.S. custody have been able to wear what they choose and have sometimes used their clothes to make a statement. In February, Ibrahim wore only long underwear and a long-sleeve undershirt to show his contempt for the court.

Aziz, known during his time in office for his designer suits, wore pajamas and looked pale and weak — though his dress may have been chosen to emphasize his poor health and help his case for release.

Aziz's lawyers and family say he has heart problems and have been pressing for the U.S. military to free him or allow him to get treatment abroad, though American officials have insisted he gets adequate care in prison.

Saddam stood during the session and defended 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."

The session had more of the fierce exchanges that have characterized the stormy trial, with Abdel-Rahman shouting at the defense team to stop arguing 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 that the judge was not letting them speak.

The judge also clashed with Saddam, who said from his seat: "Do you want to shut people's mouth this way?"

"You are a defendant!" Abdel-Rahman yelled.

"I am your president!" Saddam shouted back.

But Aziz was the focus of the session, both in and out of the courtroom, where proceedings are to continue Monday.

During Saddam's autocratic rule, Aziz was seen as the regime's more humane and urbane face at home and abroad. He often represented it at the United Nations, wearing Western suits and clenching a cigar between his teeth.

Aziz remains in U.S. custody and could face a future trial, though prosecutors in the special tribunal trying former regime members 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.

Doctoral student Omar al-Jabouri, 35, 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.

Aziz's 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," university professor Osama Ahmed said. "It's proven now, they planned to control Iraq."