Tariq Aziz guilty of Iraq murders (15 years slammer)

BBC News ^ | 11 March 2009 | BBC

[SolidWood]

Tariq Aziz guilty of Iraq murders

Aziz surrendered to US troops in 2003 Tariq Aziz, for many years the public face of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime, has been jailed for 15 years for his role in the execution of 42 merchants.

Aziz had denied any role in the summary trials of the men accused in 1992 of profiteering during economic sanctions.

Two of Saddam Hussein's half-brothers were also found guilty and sentenced to death by a court in Baghdad.

Another top official, Ali Hassan al-Majid - commonly known as Chemical Ali - was jailed for 15 years.

Two other Iraqi officials were jailed for six and 15 years, while a former governor of the Iraqi central bank was acquitted

[SolidWood]

His prior acquital was on a different charge.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Nice to hear that the Iraqi "Groucho Marx" has to do some hard time.

[angcat]

He should join B. Husseins Cabinet.

[icwhatudo]

From the article:

"This is Aziz's first conviction in the controversial Iraqi High Tribunal process, which has been criticised by human rights groups on a number of counts."

From a previous article about being acquitted on a different charge:

"Im hoping the “not guilty” on Aziz in this matter only is to establish the courts as “independent” so that when the killing of the Kurds comes up- Aziz is found guilty and hanged and the libs can’t say the courts were not independent."

2 posted on Monday, March 02, 2009 3:30:53 PM by icwhatudo

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Is this the guy that saddamn supposedly held in line by threatening his family? Christian? Or am I thinking of someone else?

[SolidWood]

Yes Tariq Aziz, actually Michal Johanna. Don’t know about the “threatened family” part, though,

[magellan]

Yes Aziz is/was a Christian, in a Ba'athist, neo-Nazi fascist sense.

Remember, Saddam's fascist Ba'athist empire was a secular fascist empire, not an Islamofascist empire.

The founder of the original Ba'ath party, Michel Aflaq (no relation to the duck), was also a Christian, who worked both in Syria's government and later Saddam's Iraqi government.

[SolidWood]

Correct. Baathism (Arab socialism) originally was (is) about Arab supremacism, not Islamic surpemacism. During the wars with Iran and the US, (Sunni) Islam was however put into use for propagandistic reasons.

[b4its2late]

He should join B. Husseins Cabinet.

He'll be able to in 15 years. You know BO will still be in power.

[anniegetyourgun]

Here’s to hoping he’ll not find “the slammer” healthful.

[CzarNicky]

He should join B. Husseins Cabinet.

He has probably paid his taxes and is thus ineligible.

[MiltonFriedmanFan]

Wasn’t he supposed to be our insider from Saddam’s regime?

[MinuteGal]

I'm surprised at the lenient sentence for Chemical Ali.

He should have been strung up and hanged with the half-brothers in a threefer.

Leni

[Red Steel]

Actually ...see below.

“The High Tribunal also jailed Saddam’s cousin and hatchet-man “Chemical Ali” Hassan al-Majid for 15 years — on top of three death sentences already passed against him.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090311/wl_mideast_afp/iraqtrialmerchants

[ExSoldier]

I'm surprised at the lenient sentence for Chemical Ali. He should have been strung up and hanged with the half-brothers in a threefer.

I couldn't agree more. I have seen the results of his efforts. When I underwent training as a chemical weapons officer during my active duty stint, I was privvy to (then) classified videos of the Kurds Saddam gassed with nerve agent. Mom's holding little infants all curled up in the agony of death by blister agent or death by nerve agent. They should hang him at the end of a piece of piano wire and instead of dropping him thru a trap door just hoist him up until his toes are barely touching. Then leave him to a slow decapitation.

[ExSoldier]

Saaaaay, whatever happened to Baghdad Bob? Didn't I hear he went to work as Joe Biden's Press Secretary? Those two were made for each other.

[bill1952]

He did get 2 death sentences.

This conviction is on top of those.

[MinuteGal]

Thanks, Red, for the info that Chemical Ali is already under three death sentences. I thought something didn't seem right with that lenient 15-year sentence.

I'll settle for one hanging.....and I hope they don't drag this on too long. The All-Compassionate One, Obama, may commute all the sentences that have been meted out to our enemies in the Iraq War.

Leni

[AdmSmith]

Wasn’t he supposed to be our insider from Saddam’s regime?

Was Tariq Aziz the coalition's mole?: How Independent Media Scooped The London Telegraph
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3124.htm

[TheThinker]

15 years for 42 deaths? That’s only 130 days per death.

[SolidWood]

Baghdad Bob has (or had) a TV show in Qatar.

[ArrogantBustard]

I'll settle for one hanging..

They could hang him three times. Hoist him by the neck and let him strangle for a few minutes, then back down. Repeat. Then hoist a third time and keep him in the air until he's dead, dead, dead.

[ari-freedom]

unfortunately

[MinuteGal]

Y'know, I was going to write the exact same thing in my post but I didn't want anyone to think I was unlady-like, LOL.

Leni

[ArrogantBustard]

I have been accused of many things, over the years.

“Ladylike” was never one of them ...

[ArrogantBustard]

JPII was trying to talk some sense into Aziz ... it didn’t do any good, but he had to try.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

You say “Aflaq”, I say “AFLEC” (no, not one of the brothers).

I say “Banana’, you say “Manana.”

I say “Barack”, we both say “Jerk”.

Glad we could agree on something.

[Anti-Bubba182]

He has death sentences pending.

Ali Hassan al-Majid

"..On December 2, 2008, Chemical Ali was once again sentenced to death, but this time for playing a role in killing between 20,000 and 100,000 Shi'ite Muslims during the revolt in southern Iraq that followed the 1991 Persian Gulf War.[20]

On March 2, 2009, al-Majid was sentenced to death for the third time, this for the assassination of Grand-Ayatollah Mohammad al-Sadr in 1999[21].

However there is still no sign of when he might be finally executed[citation needed].

On 11th March 2009, al-Majid was sentenced to fifteen years in jail for other crimes against humanity [22]..."

[Proud_USA_Republican]

I remember when he was being interviewed on some US news channel back in the early 1990s. A kuwaiti woman called in claiming family members of hers were raped and killed by Saddams troops when they invaded.
His response was “You are a silly little woman.” and then he told the interviewer to hang up on her.

[SunkenCiv]

...has been jailed for 15 years for his role in the execution of 42 merchants... accused in 1992 of profiteering during economic sanctions. Two of Saddam Hussein's half-brothers were also found guilty and sentenced to death by a court in Baghdad.

Saddam's family members profiteered from the economic sanctions as well as "oil for food".

[Paul R.]

Um, someone correct me if I am wrong: Obama has no say in this. The sentences have been “meted out” by the Iraqi courts. Obama could ask the Iraqis to pardon Ali, but, I doubt they would go along.

[PLMerite]

I sure hope they make him serve the death sentence first, or at least concurrently.

[infowarrior]

The All-Compassionate One, Obama, may commute all the sentences that have been meted out to our enemies in the Iraq War.

The court that passed those death sentences on "Chemical Ali" is an Iraqi court, and Iraq is a sovereign nation, so Oh-Bummer can't commute a darned thing...

the infowarrior

[rfp1234]

Another top official, Ali Hassan al-Majid - commonly known as Chemical Ali - was jailed for 15 years.

I think he got 15 years in THIS case, but still will get the death penalty in a separate trial for gassing the Kurds.

[piasa]

DECEMBER 2005 : (SWEDISH WEAPONS INSPECTOR ROLF EKEUS SAYS IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER TARIQ AZIZ TRIED TO BRIBE HIM- WITH $2 MILLION) Saddam Hussein's regime offered a $2 million (£1.4 million) bribe to the United Nations' chief weapons inspector to doctor his reports on the search for weapons of mass destruction. Rolf Ekeus, the Swede who led the UN's efforts to track down the weapons from 1991 to 1997, said that the offer came from Tariq Aziz, Saddam's foreign minister and deputy.
Mr Ekeus told Reuters news agency that he had passed the information to the Volcker Commission. "I told the Volcker people that Tariq [Aziz] said a couple of million was there if we report right. My answer was, 'That is not the way we do business in Sweden.' "
A clean report from Mr Ekeus's inspectors would have been vital in lifting sanctions against Saddam's regime. But the inspectors never established what had happened to the regime's illicit weapons and never gave Iraq a clean bill of health.
The news that Iraq attempted to bribe a top UN official is a key piece of evidence for investigators into the scandal surrounding the oil-for-food programme. It proves that Iraq was offering huge sums of cash to influential foreigners in return for political favours.
Nile Gardiner, of the Heritage Foundation in Washington, who has followed the inquiries, said: "It's the tip of the iceberg of what the Iraqis were offering. For every official like Ekeus who turned down a bribe, there are many more who will have been tempted by it.".
------ "Saddam's $2m offer to WMD inspector, " by Francis Harris, UK Telegraph, (Filed: Dec 03, 05 / 12/03/2005)

[piasa]

Mr. Maugein, a billionaire with close ties to Jacques Chirac, is a longtime associate of the trader and former fugitive Marc Rich, who fled to Europe in 1983 to avoid answering charges of racketeering, illegal trading and dodging a tax-bill of $48 million. (Mr. Rich was pardoned by Bill Clinton in his final hours in the White House). Mr. Maugein was also a close contact of Tariq Aziz, with whom he met regularly. He is the non-executive chairman of Soco International Plc., a publicly listed London-based petroleum exploration/production company, which goes into markets the majors tend to skip -- Mongolia, Vietnam, North Korea, Libya and Yemen. ... 362 posted on 03/11/2004 9:48:11 AM PST by Dog

[MinuteGal]

Ummm.....it was just a little joke.

Leni