|
Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz Faces Trial for Executing 42
Share and save this post:
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
After Years of Struggle, California Hotel Workers Make Gains
Mischa Gaus
Democracy and Elections:
Nine Senators, Including Obama, Introduce Bill to Help Vets Register to Vote
Steven Rosenfeld
DrugReporter:
U.S. Ranks #1 in Consumption of Pot, Cocaine, Smokes
Jordan Smith
Election 2008:
John McCain's Disaster Economics
Frank Rich
Environment:
Living Without a Car: My New American Responsibility
Andrew Lam
ForeignPolicy:
German Firms Eye Iraq Market
Health and Wellness:
Big Pharma Pushes Drugs That Cause Conditions They Are Supposed to Prevent
Martha Rosenberg
Hurricane Katrina:
From the Bayou to Baghdad: Mission Not Accomplished
Amy Goodman
Immigration:
Immigration: "They Work Here, They Live Here, They Stay Here."
Marie Kennedy, Chris Tilly
Media and Technology:
Angelina and Brad Give Birth to $11 Million Twins
Vanessa Richmond
Movie Mix:
John Cusack: Bypassing the Corporate Media
Joshua Holland
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
McSexist: McCain's War on Women
Kate Sheppard
Rights and Liberties:
How Scores of Black Men Were Tortured Into Giving False Confessions by Chicago Police
Jessica Pupovac
Sex and Relationships:
"Return of Desire": Fighting Myths About Female Sexuality
Sue Katz
War on Iraq:
Media Goof Again: Blackwater Isn't Going Anywhere
Jeremy Scahill
Water:
America's Got Water Problems, and No Plan to Fix Them
Elizabeth de la Vega
Tariq Aziz, one of the most famous faces of Saddam Hussein's regime, is to go on trial next week accused of ordering the execution of 42 merchants for increasing food prices in 1992.
Mr. Aziz, the former deputy prime minister and foreign minister, was the only Christian in the top ranks of the Baath party, and often acted as the regime's spokesman and negotiator. Speaking excellent English, he was always an effective speaker at meetings and press conferences.
The charges against him are a little surprising since the execution of the merchants from Shurja market in Baghdad was always attributed directly to Saddam Hussein. The regime itself referred to them as "martyr's to the moment of rage" and was apologetic about their fate.
Mr. Aziz, who comes from a Christian village east of Mosul, was always a loyal party member though never in the very inner circle of the regime because he was not a Sunni and was not related to Saddam Hussein.
Other defendants who will stand trial with him are Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan, a half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and the former Central Bank governor, Issam Mula Hawish.
As UN sanctions began to destroy the Iraqi economy after the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, prices soared in the Shurja wholesale market in east Baghdad, and Saddam Hussein accused businessmen of manipulating prices. Some 42 of them were rounded up, given a quick trial and then executed.
The trial will upset the remaining Christians in Iraq who saw Mr. Aziz as defending their interests and viewed his high position as a sign that they could be promoted by merit.
Though inwardly skeptical about the wisdom of invading Kuwait and other ventures by Saddam, Mr. Aziz masked his doubts. He was also an effective negotiator during the years in which UN inspectors were hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
See more stories tagged with: tariq aziz, saddam husein, iraq, baath party
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »
EMAIL
PRINT
COMMENT NOW
