Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz Faces Trial for Executing 42
Share and save this post:
AlterNet Social Networks:
Belief:
What if People Actually Treated Religion as Just a Metaphor (Like Trekkies and Secular Jews)?
Greta Christina
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
What Happened to That Prosperity Tax-Cutters Promised Us?
Sam Pizzigati
DrugReporter:
The War on Weed: Marijuana Is Basically Harmless -- The Monumentally Stupid Drug War Is Not
Jim Hightower
Environment:
The Real Scandal Over Climate Change Isn't About Hacked Emails But the Media's Coverage
Alex Steffen
Food:
10 Tips for a Sustainable Thanksgiving
Sarah Newman
Health and Wellness:
Is the House's Health Bill Really Worse than Nothing?
Joshua Holland
Immigration:
Hate Group, FAIR, Is Looking for "Ethnically Ambiguous" Actors to Amplify Its Racism
Adam Luna
Media and Technology:
The Memory Scrub About Why Ft. Hood Happened Is Almost Complete ... If It Weren't for Archives
Mark Ames
Movie Mix:
The Yes Men: Pranksters Out to Fix the World
Mark Engler
Politics:
Just When You Thought It Was Safe: 3 Potential Obstacles to Health-Care Reform
Adele M. Stan
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Why Can't We Look Away From Sarah Palin?
Vanessa Richmond
Rights and Liberties:
Obama Quietly Backs Renewing Patriot Act Surveillance Provisions
Willam Fisher
Sex and Relationships:
Hot Mormon Muffins and Models for Jesus: What's With All the Sexy Christians?
Liz Langley
Take Action:
G-20 Meetings: Nothing Much Happened in the Suites, and There Was Too Much Punch in the Streets
Laura Flanders
Water:
Poseidon's Financial Shell Game: Why Is a Private Desalination Plant Asking for Public Money?
Peter Gleick
World:
Obama Will Announce 34,000-Troop Escalation in Afghanistan 'Within Days'
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: iraq, tariq aziz, saddam husein, baath party
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »
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.
EMAIL
PRINT
COMMENT NOW
