PROFILE: Tariq Aziz: Saddam's spokesman, apologist and admirer

By dpa correspondents Oct 26, 2010, 15:37 GMT

Berlin - For decades, he was the most internationally recognizable face of Saddam Hussein's regime and a staunch apologist for the former Iraqi dictator.

Tariq Aziz, Saddam's cigar-smoking deputy prime minister, rose to international prominence - or notoriety, as some may argue - as foreign minister during his country's invasion of Kuwait and the ensuing Gulf War.

His excellent command of English, suavity and former career as a journalist befitted his role as Saddam's top diplomat and policy defender on the world stage.

Maintaining a balance between West and East during the Cold War, Aziz managed to restore diplomatic ties with Washington in 1984 and build strong economic relations with the former Soviet Union.

Though Saddam won Western backing in his eight-year war with Iran, he failed - despite frantic diplomatic efforts by Aziz - to enlist international support for his invasion of Kuwait.

Aziz's calm appearance belied strong survival instincts that he used in order to peacefully navigate his political life in the turmoil of Saddam's Iraq.

Aziz escaped unscathed an assassination attempt in 1980 and skillfully survived Saddam's political purges in the 1990s.

He had joined in 1977 the Revolutionary Command Council that put Saddam at the helm two years later.

The bespectacled man, who bore a resemblance to the late American comedian Groucho Marx, was the sole Christian to rise to prominence in Saddam's regime. Initially named Mikhael Yuhanna, he was born in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, an ethnically diverse area that is now one of the most violent and dangerous parts of the country.

Saddam's power base was largely from his clan in the predominantly Sunni Arab city of Tikrit. Thus, Aziz was never a member of the dictator's inner circle.

The urbane politician, who negotiated with United Nations weapon inspectors for months before the United States-led war on Iraq, surrendered to US troops on the night of April 24, 2003, shortly after the fall of Baghdad.

Nevertheless, Aziz was featured as the Eight of Spades on the Pentagon's playing cards display of the 55 most-wanted members of Saddam's government.

Aziz has faced four major trials since, with the most recent one culminating in a death sentence on Tuesday for his role in the persecution and 'liquidation' of Iraqi religious parties.

Aziz was already serving a 15-year prison sentence for the execution of 42 merchants in 1992 who were accused of profiteering. He was also given seven additional years in a separate trial for the displacement of Kurds in northern Iraq.

He was, however, acquitted on charges that he had been involved in crushing the Shiite uprising that followed the assassination of prominent Shiite cleric Mohammad al-Sadr.

Aziz, now 74 years old, has suffered from poor health. He had a stroke in January in a prison in western Baghdad. Past media reports have also indicated that he may have a serious lung disease.

But he remains an admirer of the late dictator.

After Saddam's 2007 execution, he told Britain's Sunday Telegraph: 'He was a friend, a colleague, a boss and I loved him as a person. It was not just a job for me. I loved Saddam and his imagination and view of Iraq. The day he was killed, Iraq died with him.'

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