Posted on 12/17/2003 4:21:50 PM PST by tessalu
DUBAI/BAGHDAD, 18 December 2003 — Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s eldest daughter, Raghad, said in remarks published yesterday that she was looking into the legalities of being able to visit her father, who was captured over the weekend by US forces in Iraq.
“The legal measures are being studied to enable me to visit my father,” she told the Saudi-owned pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper.
“Before his capture, there was never any contact with him and I don’t expect any contact now,” said Raghad, who lives in Jordan with her sister Rana and their children where they were granted asylum after the US-led war to oust Saddam.
“I don’t doubt that they want to humiliate him (Saddam),” she said.
Raghad told Al-Arabiya television on Tuesday that Saddam must have been drugged before US forces captured him.
“Saddam Hussein is still my father. Every honorable person, and every person who knows him or knew him ... knows that the person on the television was a drugged Saddam Hussein,” she said. But interim Governing Council member Muaffak Al-Rubaie, one of the first Iraqi officials to meet Saddam after his capture, said yesterday in Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat: “Never, he was not drugged ... but he was demoralized, without hope and humiliated.”
US forces captured the 66-year-old Saddam Saturday near his hometown of Tikrit.
Meanwhile, veteran French lawyer Jacques Verges — a 79-year-old iconoclast with half a century of experience defending unpopular causes — confirmed yesterday that he was willing to act for Saddam when he comes to trial.
Verges said he has already been asked to act for Iraq’s former Deputy Premier Tareq Aziz and that he was also ready to defend Saddam.
He said he was to meet members of Aziz’s family in Amman. Aziz gave himself up to the US Army in April and is believed to be in detention at Baghdad airport.
Aziz’s eldest son, Ziad Aziz, confirmed in Amman that Verges had been hired to take on his father’s case. “I have asked Mr. Verges, who is a longstanding friend, to defend my father.” Ziad indicated that he did not believe Verges would visit Iraq in the near future to meet his new client or the former Iraqi ruler, saying a trip was not possible “in the current circumstances”.
He added that he had no letters from father, carried by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), since Oct. 22.
Iraq Announces Further Rationing on Gasoline
In another development, Iraq’s Oil Ministry announced new restrictions on gasoline distribution yesterday, one week after rationing went into effect at gas stations in this country awash with oil, an official said.
“The minister decided to again ration the distribution of gasoline. Each motorist from now on cannot get more than 30 liters, compared with 50 liters previously,” Abdul Saheb Salman Qotb, counselor to interim Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr Al-Ulum said.
On Dec. 10, the ministry restricted purchases to 50 liters each, at a price of 20 dinars (one cent) each, in an effort to curb lengthy queues at filling stations.
I'm surprised she would want to see him.
Mispelled I think...isn't it "RagHead"?
Nah....She just wants him to tell her what the Swiss Bank Account #'s are....
Your father is a human butcher....deal with it.
Let her visit then detain her for her part in it all.
I'm sure she and the rest of the family are running out of moola now that Saddam's in custody. Tough noogies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.