Posted on 08/03/2004 9:16:36 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Raghad Saddam Hussein said that as the eldest living child of the former Iraqi leader she must be a politician, because her father and many Iraqis were depending on her.
Raghad who holds a BA in translation in translation from Arabic into English and vice versa, believes she has responsibilities towards her father and Iraq.
"I am the daughter of Saddam, my mother is Saddam's wife, and my children are the grandchildren of Saddam," she told the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat (the Middle East)on Tuesday.
"You do not understand, but I have commitments. I bear his name and he depends on me."
"He needs my help after the death of my brothers. I am the only one ... and today I have to help my father," she said.
Her brothers, Udai and Qusai, were killed in an armed confrontation with US occupation forces in Mosul in July 2003.
Saddam's heir
Raghad, who has lived in seclusion in Jordan with her sister, Rana, since last year, told the newspaper that she receives support from many Iraqis.
"That is why nobody can ask me to be other than a politician," she said. "This is my life, my future and the people look at me as Saddam's heir."
"I am the daughter of Saddam, my mother is Saddam's wife, and my children are the grandchildren of Saddam."
Raghad Saddam Hussein
Raghad's statements and involvement in politics had triggered the Jordanian government to ask her to remain clam and not to engage herself with media.
But her father's lawyers denied in a previous interview with Aljazeera.net any pressure by Jordanian government on their client's family.
Unconfirmed reports suggested that the organizations of Arab Baath Socialist Party in Iraq and Jordan had asked Raghad to assume her responsibilities as her father's heir and start a political career.
Sources close to Saddam Hussein's family had told Aljazeera.net that calls for former Iraqi officials to form a government in exile are gaining ground.
Raghad said she does not have enough money to fulfil her father's lawyers' demands. She said she has advised the legal team to enlist an American lawyer, who she thinks could be useful to her father.
"I do not have any money, we were left with nothing," she said. "But I do not care for the money. I am the daughter of Saddam, and I do not want money from anybody. ... I have my pride."
Former defector
Raghad said her father did not look well in his televised court hearing July 1. "We tried to obtain some information from the International Committee of the Red Cross on his health situation, but couldn't get anything."
Jordan's King Abdullah granted the two sisters humanitarian asylum after the collapse of Saddam's regime.
The two sisters had been to Jordan in 1995, when they escorted their husbands Hussain and Saddam Kamil who defected to Jordan.
The two defectors and their wives and children returned to Iraq when Saddam pardoned them, but they were killed days later by fellow tribesmen who considered the pair traitors for revealing sensitive material to the CIA.
Reasons behind the defection of Lieutenant General Hussain Kamil, who was the minister of industry and minerals, head of the military industrial organization, and the man responsible for the development of Iraq's chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons program are still controversial.
Hussain's brother Saddam Kamil was Saddam Hussein's bodyguard and one of the very few people who could enter Hussein's room while he was asleep.
Aljazeera + Agencies
>
Last week, as her father's successor as Iraqi president was being announced in Baghdad, Raghad had a different appointment on her mind - an afternoon at her favourite hairdressing salon, where she spent the equivalent of $A260 on highlights and a cut and blow-dry.
Although Saddam is known to have secreted millions of dollars in bank accounts in neighbouring countries, including Jordan, before the war, the bill for Raghad's extravagant life in Amman is being footed by her hosts, the Jordanian royal family."
Excerpt from http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/11/1086749893269.html?oneclick=true
When will this evil woman be arrested?
If she wants to follow in dear old dad's footsteps, I'm sure a cell in Abu Gharib can be found for her. And later a rope. (I know, more likely a heavy and sharp sword, but I'm cool with that)
She was left with more than her "dad's" government left too many people in Iraq, her life.
Hell,if she ends up with Saddams' millions, she could be the third Mrs. Kerry someday.
"I do not have any money, we were left with nothing," she said. "Except for this preserved human hand my father gave me, I have nothing!"
LOL, I love that.
Off with her head!
Too effing bad... she should be lucky. She didn't get the cards dealt to other Iraqi women in the ole man's rape rooms.
So, the butcher's daughter wants to enter politics to do what? Clear her father's "good name"?
Don't worry, hun... if politics don't work out for you I'm sure Cornell will take you on as faculty in Middle Eastern Studies.
She'll have to compete with The Razor and Hellary for the prized title of Queen of Tarts
Wasn't her husband killed by Saddam?
DK
Remain clam? LOL!
She's a witch! Burn her!
"I have my pride."
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
When dealing with his enemies, old Joseph Stalin routinely picked their extended families as well. One could ascribe it to "sadism and barbarity", but judging from this case... he might have had a point...
Life certainly has strange twists the longer you live it. Saddam's daughter should be turned over to the current Iraq government. We will see how much they think of what she says.
Ugh, she's got that Hillary manic stare.
Yes, but perhaps before she could run for office as a Dem she would have to undergo a name change, since "Raghad" just might put voters off.
She could certainly be elected in Berkeley or Ithaca or Santa Monica or Austin or Hollywood or Madison or San Francisco or Detroit.
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