Posted on 05/20/2008 1:48:52 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
BAGHDAD - Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein's best-known lieutenants, accused the Shiite-led government of seeking revenge during a trial Tuesday over the executions of dozens of Baghdad merchants in 1992.
Aziz told an Iraqi court, which resumed hearing the case against him and seven co-defendants, that he was proud of being a member of Saddam's Sunni-dominated Baath party and serving under the former dictator.
But chief prosecutor Adnan Ali said Aziz and his co-defendants, who include Saddam's ailing cousin known as "Chemical Ali," were responsible for the merchants' deaths and urged the court "to issue the suitable punishment that will ease the hearts of widows and oppressed ones."
Aziz, the only Christian in Saddam's mostly Sunni Muslim regime, became internationally known as the dictator's defender and a fierce American critic after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent 1991 Gulf War.
He was later promoted to deputy prime minister and often represented Iraq at the United Nations and other international forums. Just weeks before the U.S.-led invasion, Aziz met with the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in a bid to head off the conflict.
The trial deals with the execution of 42 merchants accused by Saddam's government of being behind a sharp increase in food prices when the country was under strict U.N. sanctions.
The merchants were rounded up over two days in July 1992 from Baghdad's wholesale markets and charged with manipulating food supplies to drive up prices at a time when many Iraqis were suffering economically. All 42 were executed hours later after a quick trial.
The first witness, Abdul-Amir Jabbar Nadir, spoke of his father and brother, who traded in foodstuffs at Baghdad's popular Jamila market. They were killed after they were seized on July 24, 1992, during the roundup.
"The security forces first tied the merchants to the electricity posts, saying they were greedy merchants, spit on them and then put them all of them on a minibus," Nadir said. "There were workers, clerks and other employees among them — not all of them were merchants."
He accused two other defendants — Saddam's half brothers former Interior Minister Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan and director of public security Sabawi Ibrahim — of spearheading the arrests and executions. Nadir also said he was demanding $2 million for the loss of goods.
In outlining the case, Ali said the eight men were charged with crimes against humanity, which means they could be sentenced to death if convicted.
The prosecutor called the executions of the merchants "a systematic campaign planned under the cover of darkness" and said the defendants were responsible because they were members of the Revolutionary Command Council, a rubber stamp group that approved the dictator's decisions.
Addressing the judge, Aziz, denied the allegations and said his trial was based on personal vendettas. He said he was proud of his membership in the RCC as well as the former ruling Baath party and other committees under Saddam. The 72-year-old has refused to testify against Saddam in previous trials.
"Concentrating on the membership of the Revolutionary Command Council is meant as revenge," he said. "I know it is a plot of personal revenge."
Aziz's trial is the fourth to be held for former regime officials since Saddam was ousted in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, and he could be the last high-profile Saddam era figure to face prosecution for alleged atrocities.
The trial opened on April 29 but was quickly adjourned because Chemical Ali, whose real name is Ali Hassan al-Majid, was too ill to attend. The U.S. military, which has custody of the defendants, said Monday that he had been cleared to attend the proceedings. Both he and Aziz leaned on canes as they walked into the courtroom Tuesday.
Al-Majid, who became known as Chemical Ali for chemical attacks against the Kurds in the 1980s, has already been sentenced to death along with two others in another case. The executions have been stalled because of disputes over details.
Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in a 2003 file photo. Aziz, the public face of Saddam Hussein's regime, will face trial next week over the execution of dozens of merchants in 1992, a prosecutor said on Thursday. REUTERS/Samir Mezban/Pool
I hope you like swing music, Tariq.
Tariq isn’t worried. He knows nObama will pardon him as a precondition to his meeting with Ahmadinejad.
snObama hasn't got a darn thing to say about it. It isn't the US who is trying him, but the Iraqis...
the infowarrior
I guess you never considered I was making a joke about nObama?
Well... 
I was
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