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| الزبيدي، بالشعر الأبيض، في أعقاب الاحتلال الأميركي مع عدد من أسياده الجدد |
مصطفى كامل
وصلتني قبل أيام رسالة من أخ كريم، تضمنت مقابلة مطولة سبق ان أجرتها صحيفة هاآرتس (الإسرائيلية) يوم 6 نوفمبر/ تشرين الثاني 2003 مع المتصهين سعدون الزبيدي، المترجم السابق في رئاسة الجمهورية والسفير السابق وزارة الخارجية، أثناء العهد الوطني.
وقد كنت، مثل آخرين، اطلعت على هذه المقابلة قبل سنوات، وهي في أرشيفي منذ ذلك الوقت، ولكن كثيراً من العراقيين لم يطلعوا عليها في حينه، لأسباب عديدة، منها ضعف الاهتمام بمتابعة ما ينشر في الإنترنيت، حينها، وضعف متابعة الصحافة الإسرائيلية، عموماً، ويبدو ان المقابلة انتشرت في الأيام القليلة الماضية، مجدداً، مادفعني للكتابة عنها ومناقشة ماورد فيها من إدعاءات ومزاعم.
وقد كنت، مثل آخرين، اطلعت على هذه المقابلة قبل سنوات، وهي في أرشيفي منذ ذلك الوقت، ولكن كثيراً من العراقيين لم يطلعوا عليها في حينه، لأسباب عديدة، منها ضعف الاهتمام بمتابعة ما ينشر في الإنترنيت، حينها، وضعف متابعة الصحافة الإسرائيلية، عموماً، ويبدو ان المقابلة انتشرت في الأيام القليلة الماضية، مجدداً، مادفعني للكتابة عنها ومناقشة ماورد فيها من إدعاءات ومزاعم.
المقابلة بعنوان (ضاع في الترجمة) أجراها مراسل الصحيفة الصهيونية لورينزو كريمونيسي في بغداد المحتلة.
من المفيد قبل الرد على ما جاء في هذه المقابلة التأكيد على انه كشف عن المقابلة أول مرة في أواخر عام 2007 ، وقد اطلع عليها في حينه عدد قليل من القراء العراقيين. ولم تصل الى أيدي الكثيرين لعدم ترجمتها مما ساعد المعني، حينما سأله بعض العراقيين عنها، على نفي وجودها. واستمر في محاولاته التقرب من اوساط العراقيين في الأردن، حيث يقيم.
ومع انتشار المقابلة الآن وعدم معرفة الكثير من القراء لما أورده فيها من مزاعم واتهامات وبناء على رغبة الكثير من القراء الذين اتصلوا بنا مستفسرين عنها نقدم في ادناه استعراضا لأهم ما ورد فيها.
ومع انتشار المقابلة الآن وعدم معرفة الكثير من القراء لما أورده فيها من مزاعم واتهامات وبناء على رغبة الكثير من القراء الذين اتصلوا بنا مستفسرين عنها نقدم في ادناه استعراضا لأهم ما ورد فيها.
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| الصحفي كريمونيسي |
لم يكتف سعدون جبار الزبيدي، على ما يبدو، بخيانة وطنه عندما وضع نفسه في خدمة مجرم الحرب بول بريمر والمحتلين، حينما عمل على تصفية دوائر ديوان الرئاسة وإنهاء خدمات موظفيها، بل أقدم على حلقة أخرى على ذات الخط، وهي جريمة التحدث لصحيفة (اسرائيلية) بحديث مليء بالتطاول على الرئيس الشهيد صدام حسين بأخس الأوصاف وبمحاولة تشويه سمعة رفيقه المجاهد الأسير طارق عزيز والإنتقاص من وطنيته وإخلاصه، ومهاجمة رفاق الرئيس الشهيد ومعاونيه الرئيسيين. وفوق هذا وذاك تملق ومداهنة المحتلين الصهاينة!
وأدرك جيداً ان المعني وآخرين سيقولون: ان الصحفي، وهو إيطالي الأصل، أجرى المقابلة دون أن يوضح انها لصحيفة (اسرائيلية)، وهذا ممكن، ولكن ماتحدث به الزبيدي يدل على سوء نية مقصودة، وليس مجرد خطأ غير مقصود، كثيرون يمكن ان يقعوا به في تلك الظروف، ثم لماذا لم يطالب الزبيدي الجريدة (الإسرائيلية) طيلة كل هذه السنوات برد الاعتبار ونشر تكذيب واعتذار له، إذا كانت المقابلة مفبركة أو جرى نشرها بطريقة ملتوية؟
وأدرك جيداً ان المعني وآخرين سيقولون: ان الصحفي، وهو إيطالي الأصل، أجرى المقابلة دون أن يوضح انها لصحيفة (اسرائيلية)، وهذا ممكن، ولكن ماتحدث به الزبيدي يدل على سوء نية مقصودة، وليس مجرد خطأ غير مقصود، كثيرون يمكن ان يقعوا به في تلك الظروف، ثم لماذا لم يطالب الزبيدي الجريدة (الإسرائيلية) طيلة كل هذه السنوات برد الاعتبار ونشر تكذيب واعتذار له، إذا كانت المقابلة مفبركة أو جرى نشرها بطريقة ملتوية؟
ولكي يعرف القراء حقيقة ماجرى نقلنا في أدناه بعض الفقرات الواردة في المقابلة الطويلة إضافة الى صورتها كما وردت في الصحيفة ونصها الكامل.
بدأت الجريدة (الإسرائيلية) المقابلة بتساؤل عما كان يفعله الرئيس الشهيد في الفترة الأخيرة قبل الغزو. فقال سعدون الزبيدي "... لثلاث سنوات على الأقل كان صدام حسين قد تعب من إدارة نظامه يوما بعد يوم. لم يعد يطيق الاجتماعات واللجان والبرقيات والمكالمات الهاتفية. وهكذا انطوى على نفسه، وفوض مهام {الدولة} على نحو دائم تقريبا إلى عناصر النظام الأكثر إجراما. أتذكر على سبيل المثال، أنه في خريف عام 2000، أرسلت إليه وثيقة من مجلس الكنائس العالمي تقترح إطلاق حملة دولية لإلغاء الحصار المفروض على العراق. وعلى هامشها، ثمة ملاحظة كتبها بخط يده طارق عزيز نائب رئيس وزراء العراق، الرجل الذي أظهر دائما اهتماما كبيرا في الشؤون الخارجية للبلاد - ينصح فيها أن يؤخذ الأمر على محمل الجد والترويج له في الكنائس الكاثوليكية والأرثوذكسية. ترك صدام الوثيقة على مكتبه مدفونة تحت كومة من الأوراق لمدة 18 شهرا، ثم أضاف عليها تعليقا ينم عن انعدام التركيز [تدرس بعمق]، وأعادها إلى مرسلها. وكان هذا مظهرا من عدد لا يحصى من مظاهر الهذيان الأعمى لدكتاتور في مرحلة الإنهيار. وحيد، معزول، لا يكترث لشيء. فاختار ان ينغلق على نفسه في مكتبه وينصرف للكتابة"
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| صورة المقابلة المطوَّلة كما نشرت على موقع الصحيفة الإسرائيلية |
وتقول جريدة هآرتس "ووفقا لما أوضحه سعدون الزبيدي خلال جلسات المقابلة التي دامت أكثر من 15 ساعة أن صورة (صدام الكاتب) أضيفت الى عدد لا يحصى من صور الطاغية التي ظهرت على جدران العراق خلال فترة حكمه التي امتدت 24 عاما (أي صدام المعمار، صدام الفلاح، و صدام رجل الأعمال، الطيار ، الجندي، المحامي ، البحار، الإمام الشيعي، الصياد الكردي).
ويضيف ناكر الجميل سعدون الزبيدي للجريدة (الإسرائيلية)، قائلاً "ومن الواضح أن صدام كان يتوقع الهجوم الأمريكي على نحو ما، وأراد التنبؤ في روايته في نواح كثيرة . وفي العديد من النواحي اعتقد انه كان يتمناه تقريبا. كان في أعماق كيانه يريد التغيير في حياته".
ولمزيد من عرض خدماته للمحتلين وعملائهم أدلى بدلوه في المسلسل الرخيص لتشويه صورة الرئيس الشهيد فاختلق كذبة مدوية بقوله "صدام بلغ الثالثة والستين في عام 2000 وكانت تلك هي الفترة التي شهدت عزوفه عن السلطة. ولأنه كان حاكما مطلقا ويائسا وغارقا في أوهام العظمة وشاعرا بالمرارة جراء الحظر (اي الحصار الدولي) وربما بسبب بلوغه مرحلة الكهولة، في ظل كل ذلك وقع في حب إيمان ذات ال 24 عاما، وهي ابنة عبدالتواب الملا حويش، أحد مستشاريه الذي في مقابل موافقته على الزواج عينه وزيرا ............ وهذه هي زوجته الرابعة"
وفي محاولة خسيسة أخرى لتشويه صورة ومواقف الرئيس الشهيد المبدئية المعروفة والمعلنة في تحديد العدو الأول للعراق من الناحية الستراتيجية، قال سعدون للجريدة (الإسرائيلية) عن هجوم اسرائيل على المفاعل النووي العراقي عام 1981 "لقد شعر صدام بأن اسرائيل قد غدرت به بعد قصف اسرائيل لمفاعل أوزيراك النووي 1981 وكان غالباً ما يقول [لقد شننت الحرب على ايران التي تمثل خطرا على الشرق الأوسط برمته، والآن يجازونني بطعنة في الظهر]"
انها رواية لا تصدر الا عن الخيال المريض لهذا المتصهين، فالكل يعرف ان العراق، وعلى امتداد حكمه الوطني، لم يقم أي علاقة مع الكيان الصهيوني، وان مواقف العراق في ظل قيادة الرئيس الشهيد صدام حسين من القضية الفلسطينية والصراع العربي الصهيوني معروفة للجميع، فكيف يعتقد الرئيس، يرحمه الله، أن الصهاينة غدروا به، بما يوحي أن ثمة اتفاقاً مسبقاً معهم؟!
وفي محاولة دنيئة لتشويه صورة المجاهد الأستاذ طارق عزيز، فك الله أسره، وفي الوقت نفسه لتملق العدو الصهيوني، ربما ،للوصول الى قلوب عشاقها وحماتها في الولايات المتحدة وممثليهما في المنطقة الخضراء ببغداد المحتلة، انتقد سعدون في حديثه لـ "هآرتس" تعامل الرئيس الشهيد مع وزير خارجية الفاتيكان الكاردينال أكيلي سلفرستيني.
وقالت الجريدة نقلا عن سعدون الزبيدي "بعد حرب 1991 كان يساعد طارق عزيز في جهوده الدبلوماسية مع الفاتيكان..... وعزيز هو المسيحي الوحيد في الحكومة، حتى انه تمكن من إقناع وزير خارجية الفاتيكان، الكاردينال أكيلي سيلفستريني، أن يأتي إلى بغداد" ولكن "يتذكر الزبيدي" أن لقاءه مع صدام تحول إلى مجرد فرصة أخرى ضائعة. إن سيلفستريني دبلوماسي ممتاز، وحاول أن يشرح للرئيس انه يجب ان يقبل الشروط التي فرضتها الامم المتحدة على الفور، ويتعاون مع المفتشين للتحقيق في ترسانة العراق من الأسلحة غير التقليدية. كما تحدث عن الانفتاح على إسرائيل، قائلا [كما ترون، لدينا خلافات تاريخية وقديمة مع إسرائيل، وأسباب كثيرة للنزاع - القدس والأماكن المقدسة، والطريقة التي يعاملون التجمعات المسيحية ومع ذلك نحن نقيم علاقات دبلوماسية كاملة معها. ليس هناك طريقة أخرى إذا كنا نريد السلام في الشرق الأوسط]".
واضاف ""لكن تفسير صدام هو أن الأمر كله لا يعدو كون الدبلوماسي القادم من الكرسي الرسولي قد جاء من أجل القيام بدور الوسيط، أو ما هو أسوأ. وفي وهدة شعوره بالخوف المرضي، قال انه يشتبه في انه عميل أرسلته إسرائيل. كان غاضبا جدا ويشعر بالإهانة وعدوانيا بلا مبرر. اصطحبت لاحقا سيلفستريني بسيارتي الى غرفته في فندق الرشيد. ولم يخف خيبة أمله فقال لي: [رئيسكم مخطئ ، مخطىء جدا بشأن العالم. ويجب أن يتغير وإلا سوف يجلب المآسي الرهيبة لنفسه ولبلده، ثم حدق في عيني ّ وبنبرة قلق وتشاؤم قال لي [صديقي الشاب، مع هذا الرئيس، أنت وعائلتك في خطر حقيقي]".
ومع انني لا أعتقد أبداً بصواب مانقله عن حديث الكاردينال المتصهين له، إلا انني لا يمكنني مناقشة حوار شخصي يدعي الزبيدي حصوله، فهو في كل الأحوال بلا شاهد!
ويواصل سعدون في حديثه للجريدة الإسرائيلية الإساءة الى قيادة العراق الوطنية وبالذات للرئيس الشهيد ورفاقه ومساعديه فيقول عن المناضل الأسير طارق عزيز "لقد تعرض لحرب شعواء من عدي وقصي ولدي صدام ومن أجهزة الامن السرية ومن عشيرة صدام ذات النفوذ القوي........ وفي الفترة الاخيرة انتقلت مقاليد السلطة فعليا الى أيدي ناجي الحديثي وزير الخارجية منذ عام 2001 ، وسكرتير صدام الشخصي عبد الحمود، ومدير جهاز المخابرات الموجود في كل مكان طاهر جليل الحبوش، وبالطبع قصي، ونائبي الرئيس عزة الدوري وطه ياسين رمضان. وقد تحكموا بكل الأجهزة العسكرية المرتبطة بالمخابرات، وذلك على حساب شخصيات مثل طارق عزيز الذي رغم كونه من الآباء المؤسسين للبعث في الستينيات الذين ظلوا موظفين مدنيين".
الكل يعرف ان للقيادة العراقية سلم مسؤوليات وتراتبية واضحة، وبالتالي فإن أيا من السادة الوارد ذكرهم في أعلاه، كما جاء على لسان هذا المتصهين، كانوا يمارسون مهامهم الوظيفية المعروفة ضمن توصيفات مناصبهم ومسؤولياتهم الرسمية، ولا ارى الحديث عن (انتقال مقاليد السلطة الفعلية) الا جزءاً من حملة تشويه صورة القيادة العراقية وفي مقدمتها الرئيس الشهيد صدام حسين، والإيحاء بوجود مراكز قوى متصارعة داخلها، كما ان الحديث عن كون المناضل طارق عزيز من "الآباء المؤسسين لحزب البعث في الستينات" يمثل دليلاً آخر على كذب القائل، فالكل يعرف ان البعث تأسس عام 1947 وأن الأستاذ طارق عزيز لم يكن من مؤسسيه على الإطلاق.
وأضاف سعدون الزبيدي في حديثه للجريدة (الاسرائيلية) "وفضلا عن ذلك فإن طارق عزيز مسيحي، وفوق كل ذلك لم يكن من افراد عشيرة صدام، وهذا وحده يكفي لوضعه في دائرة الشبهات. كان صدام بحاجة اليه لأنه الوحيد الذي يعرف كيف يخاطب الغرب، ولكن الآخرين كلهم كانوا يكرهونه ويخافونه كما يخافون الحية في الحشيش. البرهان؟ في عام 2000 اعتقل زياد ابن طارق عزيز 47 يوما بتهمة الفساد. وكانت هذه رسالة لا تقبل اللبس من العسكر :أبناؤك رهائن بأيدينا. لا تتجرأ أن تخوننا أو ان تحاول الهرب الى الغرب. سنذبح عائلتك بأكملها، وخصوصا ولديك. بقي هذا التهديد قائما حتى اندلاع الحرب".
يقول الزبيدي لها ارتس ذلك بينما تقدم قصة احتجاز زياد عزيز، دليلاً على ان القيادة العراقية كانت حريصة على عدم تسلل الفساد المالي إلى صفوف عوائل المسؤولين فيها، وكانت حازمة في محاصرة أية شبهات بهذا الخصوص والتعامل معها على وفق منطق الحزم العادل والنزاهة المطلقة، وهي بادرة تسجل للقيادة الوطنية العراقية لا عليها.
ثم ماهذا الربط (العبقري) بين التحقيق مع زياد طارق عزيز عام 2000، وماحدث عام 2003؟
وأيضاً ماهي قيمة الزبيدي في الدولة العراقية ليعتبر نفسه ضحية لما يسميه (الاقتتال الداخلي والصراع على السلطة بين عشيرة التكريتي) كما يسميها؟
ولايستحي الزبيدي من استجداء الصهاينة فيقول لهم انه لم يتلق راتباً منذ فبراير/ شباط 2003، رغم انه عمل بمعية المجرم بريمر!
ويقول سعدون الزبيدي للجريدة (الإسرائيلية) انه كان يعمل في مكتب طارق عزيز في السنة الاخيرة قبل الغزو "وبحدود العاشر من مارس/ آذار رأيت على مكتبه رسالة كان يكتبها الى الامين العام للأمم المتحدة كوفي عنان في مسعى للتفاوض على اتفاق يعلق بموجبه صدام (مهامه) في مقابل تأجيل الهجوم الأميركي. لا اعلم إن كانت الرسالة قد عرضت على مكتب الرئيس. واعتقد انه ربما خاف أن يعرضها. ولكن ما أعرفه، مع ذلك، هو ان التهديد الفظيع بذبح عائلته بقي قائما. لقد سلَّم طارق عزيز نفسه بعد أن ضمن عبور زوجته وابنيه وابنتيه الى عمان بأمان. واعتقد انه الآن بات حرا للتعاون".
من الواضح ان هذا التافه لا يتورع من أن يعضَّ يد السيد عزيز التي كان لها عليه أفضالاً جمة، فيقول عن الأخير انه سلم نفسه بعد تأمين ممر آمن لعائلته وانه يشعر الان بالحرية للتعاون، بل انه يصرح ان السيد عزيز متواطئ مع الغزاة، فيطلق على ذلك التعاون، المزعوم طبعاً، لفظة collaborate وهي تعني التواطؤ وليس التعاون!
وتحدث عن نفسه زاعما أنه كان ملاحقا من الاجهزة الأمنية أيام العهد الوطني ويقول "هذه اول مرة اتحدث فيها بعد نهاية الحرب. انني خائف. فالعراق كان وما يزال جمهورية رعب.... الاجهزة السرية لم تكن تنظر لي بارتياح وكنت معرضا للقتل".
ويبرع في هذيانه فيقول ان الرئيس صدام حسين كان يتمنى حدوث الغزو الأميركي رغبة منه في تغيير نمط حياته! وأنه بارك محاولة اغتيال المرحوم عدي عام 1996!
وللرد على هذه المزاعم وتفنيدها، سألنا احد السفراء في وزارة خارجية دولة العراق الوطنية فاختصَّنا بحديث مهم ننشره في أدناه:
ينبغي للقراء الكرام أن يعرفوا شيئا عن خلفية السيد سعدون الزبيدي لكي يحسنوا تفسير سقوطه الى هذا الدرك من الموقف اللا أخلاقي واللاوطني.
التحق السيد سعدون الزبيدي بوزارة الخارجية في عام 1984 للتدريس في معهد الخدمة الخارجية. وسرعان ما شاع في أوساط الوزارة عنه سعيه الدائب للتقرب من مكتب الوزير والوكلاء، وكان يرابط عند مكتب الوزير مساء كل يوم حتى ساعة خروج الأخير لكي يسلم عليه ويعرض استعداده لأي عمل وأي خدمة. وإزاء ظهوره بهذا المظهر المداهن والمتملق بدأ بعض موظفي الوزارة الإستفسار عن خلفياته من أقرانه في لندن وفي جامعة بغداد- كلية التربية، فتبين لهم انه ليس متخصصاً بالترجمة ولم يتخرج من جامعة اكسفورد كما كان يدعي وأنه قد درس المسرح في بريطانيا وتأخر 8 سنوات حتى حصل على درجة الدكتوراه، أي أكثر من ضعف الفترة الطبيعية اللازمة لنيل هذه الشهادة، وانه قد انتمى حديثا لحزب البعث بعد عودته من الدراسة في عام 1983.
واستغل طيبة وانفتاح الأستاذ طارق عزيز، فك الله أسره، فاستطاع ان يقنعه بترشيحه مترجما في رئاسة الجمهورية بعد مرض المترجم القدير المرحوم مازن الزهاوي. وبالفعل بدأ يترجم هناك، ثم تولى ادارة معهد الخدمة الخارجية. وهنا بدأت تتكشف دناءة نفسه لموظفي الوزارة، حيث ثبت قيامه بسرقة نفاضات السجائر وكثيرا من ادوات المعهد. ثم رشح سفيرا للعراق في اندونيسيا عام 1997، مما أثار استياء الكثير من الكوادر الدبلوماسية في الوزارة الذين كانوا على دراية بعدم لياقته لهذا المنصب.
ولكن ما لبثت أن أخذت الروايات تتوالى للوزارة عن ممارساته للتربح على حساب صغار موظفي السفارة بالسطو على حصصهم المقررة قانونياً التي تسمح لهم باستيراد سيارات شخصية معفاة من الرسوم الجمركية، باستيراد سسيارت مرسيدس وبيعها للأندونيسيين لتحصيل مبالغ تصل الى 10 الاف دولار عن كل سيارة.
وحينما وردت هذه المعلومات الى القيادة العراقية، طلب مدير جهاز المخابرات الفريق طاهر جليل الحبوش احالته الى لجنة تحقيقية في جهاز المخابرات. وفعلاً تم استدعاؤه إلى بغداد وحقق معه أحد كبار مدراء جهاز المخابرات، وهو السيد حسن عزبة العبيدي لأكثر من أربع ساعات، ورفع الجهاز الى السيد رئيس الجمهورية قناعته بثبوت تهم الفساد على السيد الزبيدي. وقد علمنا في حينه ان الرئيس الشهيد رأف به وكتب على قرار التحقيق (يمنح فرصة أخيرة).
وبعد أن عيِّن الدكتور ناجي صبري وزيرا للخارجية في أواسط عام 2001 كان احساس بعض كوادر الوزارة ان السيد سعدون سيجد منفذا للتسلل الى مكتب الوزير كما فعل مع سلفيه، الأستاذان طارق عزيز ومحمد سعيد الصحاف. إلا أنه ما إن مرت خمسة أشهر على هذا التغيير، حتى فاجأنا الوزير خلافا لما توقعناه، حيث استدعاه لحضور مؤتمر السفراء في شهر ديسمبر/ كانون الأول2001، وما ان انتهى المؤتمر حتى منعه من العودة الى مقر عمله وسحب جوازه ونقله الى وزارة المالية حسب تنسيبها (بالطبع بعد أن حصل الوزير على موافقة رئاسة الجمهورية).
ويبدو ان السيد سعدون قد تمكن من إقناع بعض المسؤولين بالإستفادة من خدماته وامكانياته للعمل مترجما في الدائرة السياسية بديوان الرئاسة. وهكذا عمل هناك مترجما حتى الغزو. وليس صحيحا انه كان يعمل في مكتب الأستاذ طارق عزيز كما زعم في المقابلة. ويبدو انه اختلق هذه الكذبة لكي يحوك كذبة اخرى وهي انه رأى على طاولة الاستاذ طارق رسالة للامين العام يعرض فيها تنحي الرئيس الشهيد عن مسؤولياته!
ويمضي السفير العراقي قائلا:
بعد الغزو ظهر السيد الزبيدي على حقيقته. فالتحق بإدارة سلطة الأحتلال وعينته مسؤولا عن تصفية مؤسسات ودوائر ديوان الرئاسة، كما اخذ يترجم للحاكم الإستعماري الأميركي المدني مجرم الحرب بول بريمر. ثم تعاون مع العميل سعد عاصم الجنابي ومع المتعاونين مع المحتل أمثال صالح المطلك وغيره.
بل ان السيد الزبيدي ومن خلال ماتكتنزه نفسه المريضة من عوامل اللؤم والخبث، أقدم على فعلة خسيسة أخرى، حينما عمل في خدمة العميل سعد عاصم الجنابي الذي (باع) بعض المسؤولين العراقيين، إلى المحتل الأميركي، حيث قضى بعضهم سنوات طويلة جدا رهن الأسر، فيما حكم على بعض آخر منهم، بأحكام ظالمة بالسجن المؤبد.
وأود أن اشير، والكلام لمحدثنا الدبلوماسيالوطني العراقي، الى ما ذكره السيد سعدون الزبيدي عن زيارة وزير خارجية الفاتيكان الكاردينال سيلفستريني. فقد حاول السيد سعدون أن ينسب زورا وبهتانا للاستاذ طارق عزيز اهتماما خاصا بالفاتيكان كونه مسيحيا. وهذا غير صحيح تماماً، فلقد عملنا بمعية السيد عزيز سنوات طويلة، وبمختلف المناصب، ولم نلمس منه أي إعلان لمسيحيته على حساب وطنه ومبادئه، فالمجاهد الأصيل أبو زياد عراقي عربي فوق وقبل كل شيء. ولن يتمكن اصحاب الضمائر النتنة من امثال السيد سعدون الزبيدي التشكيك في حقيقة يعرفها القاصي والداني وهي أن ولاء رجال صدام حسين الأول والأخير كان ما يزال لبلدهم العراق وأمتهم العربية المجيدة ومبادئهم القائمة على التشابك والتلاحم الأبدي بين العروبة والإسلام. وإذا كان الاستاذ طارق عزيز قد زار الفاتيكان مرة واحدة فقد زار دولا عربية واسلامية عشرات المرات. كما انه ليس صحيحا ان الأستاذ طارق عزيز دعا هذا الوزير لزيارة العراق. فقد طلب هذا الوزير عام 1995 المجيء الى بغداد بحجة انه يحمل مشروعا لرفع الحصار عن العراق. وقد استقبله السيد الرئيس صدام حسين، يرحمة الله تعالى. وفي اثناء المقابلة فوجىء الرئيس الشهيد والأستاذ طارق عزيز بالوزير الفاتيكاني يطرح مقترح الإنفتاح على (اسرائيل)، فرد الرئيس الشهيد في الحال ردا حازما ونهض وقال له: انتهت المقابلة، وتركه وانصرف بدون توديع. لكن السيد سعدون لغاية في نفسه المريضة أخذ ينتقد الرئيس الشهيد على طرده الوزير الكاردينال المتصهين ويكيل المديح للأخير ولمقترحه المشبوه.
كما انه ليس في سجلات وزارة الخارجية أي ذكر لما زعمه السيد سعدون للجريدة الإسرائيلية عن علاقات اميركا والعراق بقوله "ان وزارة الخارجية الأميركية أرسلت في منتصف يوليو/ تموز 1990 رسالة اعتذار عن مواد اذاعية لإذاعة صوت أميركا هاجمت فيها دكتاتورية البعث."
كما اود أن اشير الى أن ما زعمه عن وجود مقترح من مجلس الكنائس العالمي وانه بقي 18 شهرا على مكتب الرئيس، يرحمه الله، ما هو إلا محض خيال ولا صحة له على الإطلاق. فقد اعتدنا على تلقي التوجيه موافقة او اعتذارا أو تعديلا على اي مقترح كنا نرفعه الى رئاسة الجمهورية. ولم يحدث قط ان رفعنا مقترحا او توصية او طلبا ولم نتسلم ردا عليه من رئاسة الجمهورية خلال أيام. وليس في سجلاتنا ما اشار اليه من مقترح بعث به او عن لقاء له مع السيد كوفي عنان في اندونيسيا. وليس في سجلاتنا أي اشارة لما زعمه من قيام الوزير ناجي صبري بتوجيه اللوم له على مقترح ارسله من اندونيسيا. بل ان معاقبة الوزير ناجي صبري له كانت على ممارساته غير اللائقة الثابتة على سلوكه.
ثم ماعلاقة السياسي النمساوي يورغ هايدر بموضوع المقابلة، واعتقد ان إقحام اسمه بهذه الطريقة الفجة وجعل العلاقة معه بديلاً عن زيارة البابا، "كسبنا هايدر وخسرنا البابا"، ثم الحديث عن علاقة الوزير صبري به، الممتدة إلى أيام عمل الأخير سفيراً في النمسا نهاية التسعينات، انما تأتي لإرضاء الصهاينة الذين كانوا على عداء تام مع هايدر!
نص المقابلة كما وردت على موقع الصحيفة الاسرائيلية باللغة الانجليزية
Nov. 6, 2003
Lost in translation
By Lorenzo Cremonesi
Lost in translation
By Lorenzo Cremonesi
Sa'adoon Al-Zubaydi was Saddam Hussein's presidential translator. In a special interview, he provides previously unknown details on the overthrown dictator.
BAGHDAD - Imagine Saddam Hussein in the days just before the war broke out. One cannot help but think of him overloaded with responsibilities, organizing the armed forces, reviewing contingency plans, rechecking data regarding strategic reserves and evacuation routes in case the Marines launched a direct attack on his presidential palaces in Baghdad and Tikrit ...
"No, no, not at all. For at least three years Saddam Hussein had been tired of the day-to-day management of his regime. He could not stand it any more: meetings, commissions, dispatches, telephone calls. So he withdrew, delegating tasks almost invariably to the more criminal elements of the regime.
"I remember, for example, that in the autumn of 2000, a document from the World Council of Churches, proposing an international campaign to abolish the embargo against Iraq, was sent to him. In the margins, there was a note in the handwriting of Tariq Aziz -- Iraq's deputy prime minister, a man who always showed a keen interest in the country's foreign affairs -- advising that the matter be taken seriously and promoted in the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
"Saddam left the document on his desk, buried under a pile of papers for 18 months. Then, distractedly, he added a comment, "Examine more in-depth," and returned it to its sender.
"This was the umpteenth manifestation of the blind delirium of a dictator in decline. Alone, isolated, out of it. He preferred shutting himself up in his office and writing."
What did he write?
" Novels. He used to spend hours and hours engrossed in long, fantastic stories in the popular Arab tradition, but also undoubtedly inspired by autobiographical motifs: great loves, besieged castles, memorable battles and above all betrayed and treacherous princes, family intrigues, embittered kings stabbed in the back by their own sons --all set in Mesopotamia of Assyro-Babylonian times (it is no secret that Saddam considered himself a modern-day
Nebuchadnezzar)."
Thus the image of "Saddam the writer" may be added to the innumerable depictions of the tyrant that appeared on Iraq's walls during his 24-year reign (i.e., of Saddam the architect, Saddam the peasant, Saddam dressed up as a business man, a pilot, a soldier, a lawyer, a sailor, a Shi'ite imam, a Kurdish hunter, and hundreds of others) --according to Sa'adoon al-Zubaydi, as he explained during more than 15 hours of interviews.
Al-Zubaydi, 55, an Oxford graduate, Shakespearean scholar, professor of English literature at Baghdad University, and former ambassador to Indonesia (1995-2001), was personal translator of the president before and after his term as envoy, as well as editor of Saddam's writings.
"Saddam became a prolific author, albeit of inferior quality. Lately the editing of his books had turned into a full-time job," says Al-Zubaydi, pulling out of his briefcase one of two novels he had been correcting in the weeks just before the war broke out, on March 20.
The presidential publisher, Al-Hurriah (Freedom), managed to complete the printing of this book just hours before the fighting ended in the capital, on April 10. More than 300 pages long, it has a glossy cover depicting two blazing towers flanked by a devil, a young woman wearing a veil and a warrior brandishing a sword decorated with the symbols of Islam.
The author's name does not appear. Instead, Saddam always ordered the same phrase printed on his books: "A novel written by its author." The title refers to the upcoming future of Iraq: "Get Out of Here, You Cursed Ones!"
Al-Zubaydi: "It tells the story of the invasion of the country during the rule of King Ibrahim, 15 centuries before the birth of Christ. Obviously Saddam anticipated the American attack and wanted somehow to foretell it in his novel. In many ways I think he almost wished for it. In his innermost being he wanted a change in his life.
"For a long time he had been saying that sumptuous living in the presidential palaces had corrupted the leadership of the Ba'ath party along with his entire family. He saw plots and conspiracies everywhere. He especially feared his eldest son Uday. He may have wanted to get rid of him once and for all.
"Repeatedly I heard rumors at the palace to the effect that he even gave his blessing to the attempted murder of his son in 1996. But this was taboo, especially in the tribal mentality that has always permeated Saddam's view of the world. Uday was seriously injured and, as a result, became much crueler, spoiled and capricious than before, but also less politically dangerous.
"In his last novel, the character of the perfidious son is personified by Ezekiel, a name taken from local Jewish tradition. This is not a coincidence: Saddam uses this name for three of the negative characters in his five books.
"Saddam felt betrayed by Israel after the bombing of the nuclear reactor of Osiraq in June of 1981. 'I wage war on Iran, which is dangerous for the entire Middle East, and they repay me by stabbing me in the back?' he used to say.
"So Ezekiel secretly allies himself with the invaders," Al-Zubaydi says, "but Ibrahim finds him out, has him killed, and then flees to the desert to organize a guerrilla war together with the Bedouin tribes who had remained loyal to the king.
"The plot is simple, but encapsulates Saddam's idea of utopia: a return to armed struggle, to Spartan life, on the run. He longed for the golden days of his youth, when he was being hunted down after the failed coup attempt in 1958. He spoke about it often, with nostalgia. He longed to return to some improbable original state of purity. And, if I know him, he might now be happy living in hiding with a small group of his staunchest followers, subsisting on yogurt and dates somewhere among the reeds on the banks of the Tigris."
Humanizing Saddam
Certainly, Al-Zubaydi has good reason to insist on publicly criticizing the regime of which he was a part until the very last. On the other hand, however, he somehow tries to humanize Saddam's image.
"This is the first time I have spoken up since the end of the war. I am afraid. Iraq was and remains a republic of terror. My position is a difficult one. I was a public figure. Everyone remembers my appearance on television at the end of February, when I served as interpreter in the interview Saddam gave to CBS [anchorman] Dan Rather.
"For many Iraqis I am one of the former dictatorial regime's privileged few--- a man worthy of condemnation. They don't know that I was not looked upon favorably by the secret services. I could be killed. As for the Americans, although they now use my paid services, I remain a potential enemy," he explains in an offended tone, soon after he was treated badly at a checkpoint, when an Iraqi translator pointed him out to the American soldiers as "a criminal on the run."
But the learned ambassador is not running anywhere. Rather, he is trying to adapt. He says he is broke. "I have not received my salary since February," he says, hopeful of finding work in the UN or with some international agency.
His account should be taken with a grain of salt. It reflects all the current ambiguities of Iraqi intellectuals who served in the Ba'ath, and are now trying to find their place in the new system built by the Americans. He doesn't want to disown his past, and yet his future is at stake. Hence the attempt to present a softer Saddam, the victim of a system he built with much cruelty, and over which, near the end, he no longer had complete control. But Al-Zubaydi gives us previously unpublished inside information from the palace in Baghdad, and a version of the facts that history may one day have to take into account.
Saddam's most autobiographical novel is his first, "Zabiba and the King," with a title and a plot worthy of "A Thousand and One Nights."
Al-Zubaydi: "Saddam turned 63 in 2000. That was the period in which his disenchantment with power began. An absolute ruler, frustrated, plagued with delusions of grandeur, embittered by the embargo, and perhaps also by the onset of old age, he fell in love with Iman, 24, daughter of Abdul Tawab al-Mullah Howeish, one of his advisers, who --in exchange for his consent to the marriage --was appointed minister of military industries. It is she, his fourth wife, who gave him the inspiration and the vitality, who encouraged him to pick up pen and paper," says Al-Zubaydi.
The 180-page book tells the story of an absolute monarch involved in a relentless war against invaders, who -- thanks to his love for a young married woman -- is able to prevail and defeat the enemy. Moreover, Zabiba divorces her first husband (as, in fact, happened in the case of Iman) and, being from a poor family, also manages to return the king to his roots and his people, and even restore his faith in God.
Illegible texts
Saddam's writing is simple, filled with peasant dialect and grammatical errors typical of an autodidact. But he had been writing continuously: In 2001 he produced the 600-page "The Fortified Castle," and immediately proceeded to write the 320-page "The Men and the City."
"Often the text is illegible. It must be rewritten, clarified. It is not true, however, that the texts were written by his secretary, as has been insinuated. I have seen all of the original manuscripts. They were written in Saddam's typical orderly handwriting, with few deletions and many repetitions. When he stumbled upon a new word, especially a complicated one, he would become fascinated with it and use it again and again, almost always inappropriately."
But Al-Zubaydi's story goes far beyond Saddam's literary pretensions. In the last year of the dictatorship, the translator's desk was in Tariq Aziz's office.
"Week in and week out, I saw his fears of the inevitability of the conflict and our certain defeat grow," he recalls.
Al-Zubaydi inevitably devotes special attention to Aziz, who eventually became his mentor and with whom he was close, both during Aziz's term as foreign minister and during the most dangerous times, when "Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay, the secret services and the extremely powerful Tikriti clan waged a merciless war against him" - i.e., during the infighting over leadership, of which Al-Zubaydi considers himself a victim.
"In the last period the true reins of power were in the hands of Naji Hadith, foreign minister since 2001; Saddam's personal secretary, Abedal-Hamoud; the omnipresent head of the Mukhabarat [Iraqi intelligence service], Taher Abdul Jalil al-Habboush; and -- of course -- Qusay and the two vice-presidents Izzat Ibrahim and Taha Yassin Ramadan. They had taken over the military circles linked to the Mukhabarat at the expense of figures such as Tariq Aziz who, although among the founding fathers of the Ba'ath in the `60s, remained civilian functionaries.
"Tariq was also a Christian, and more importantly, did not belong to Saddam's tribal clan. This was enough to make him suspect. Saddam needed him because he was the only one who knew how to speak to the West, but all the others hated him and feared him like a snake in the grass."
"The proof? In 2001 Tariq's eldest son, Ziad, was thrown in jail for 47 days after having being accused of corruption. This was an unequivocal message from the military: Your loved ones are our hostages. Do not dare to betray us or try to escape to the West. We will slaughter your entire family, especially your two sons.
"This threat remained in force until the war. Around March 10th, I saw a letter on Tariq's desk that he had been writing to [UN Secretary-General] Kofi Annan, in an attempt to negotiate an agreement whereby Saddam would suspend himself in return for a postponement of the American attack.
"I don't know whether it had been shown to the president's office. I think he might have been too afraid to do that. I do know however, that the terrible threat to slaughter his family persisted. Tariq turned himself in to the Americans on April 24th, not before ensuring safe passage to Amman for his wife, his sons and one of his two daughters. I think now he feels free to collaborate."
It should be noted that Al-Zubaydi goes to great length to stress that Tariq Aziz has always been and remains a pan-Arab ideologue of the Ba'ath. "He could not stand the brutal aspects of the dictatorship. He feared Uday's corrupt and cruel ways. He felt persecuted by the Mukhabarat, and yet he remained a staunch anti-American. He thought that the Arabs should join the Europeans and together curb the excessive power the U.S. has been accumulating."
"Seven Poles" theory
From 1987 to 1995 Al-Zubaydi served as personal translator to the president, even in the most confidential meetings (he would subsequently return to this post after his term in Jakarta, from 2002 to 2003). In this capacity, he attended the most sensitive meetings concerning the Gulf War. He was at Saddam's side when the latter received delegations from around the world who came to Baghdad to obtain the release of foreign hostages. But before all that happened, Al-Zubaydi recalls, some interesting events took place.
"In May 1987 an Iraqi missile accidentally hit the American frigate Stark, causing the death of 37 sailors. I was asked to translate the meetings between Saddam and the U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Near East, Richard Murphy. I remember my surprise when I learned that at the time, there was extensive exchange of intelligence between Washington and Baghdad during the war against Iran.
"Following the end of the Cold War, Saddam formulated his 'Seven Poles' thesis, according to which in the near future the world would be dominated not only by the U.S., Russia and China, but also by India, Japan and France, as the leader of the European countries. As for the Arab world, who if not Iraq would be the beacon?
"Saddam could not stand the British. He never forgave them their colonial past in Iraq. He especially disliked Margaret Thatcher. I am still convinced that it was none other than the arrogant tones in the letter sent to Saddam by the former British prime minister, demanding the immediate release of Farzad Bazoft, the British journalist of Iranian origin accused of espionage, that prompted Saddam to give the green light for Bazoft's hanging on March 15, 1990."
For France, on the other hand, Saddam had a soft spot. "He deluded himself that he knew Parisian politics well, simply because he was there once on an official visit and they rolled out the red carpet for him. In fact, he understood nothing. He did not understand that France was above all interested in selling arms. The truth is that things were not exactly rosy with the Elysee Palace either. When Jacques Chirac called Saddam personally in 1988 and asked him to release a certain number of Iranian agents held in Iraqi prisons, Saddam merely shrugged."
The invasion of Kuwait on the night of August 2, 1990 brought Al-Zubaydi back to the center of activity. This was the turning point in the history of Iraq, which paved the way for two wars, leading up to the fall of the dictatorship last April.
"I was present at all three meetings between Saddam and then U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie, during her three-year term. I can say with certainty that the Americans had in fact been notified of the intention to attack Kuwait, and responded with tacit acquiescence. Furthermore, as late as mid-July, the State Department sent a telegram with personal apologies to the president after the latter had protested against certain broadcasts on the Voice of America that were critical of the Ba'ath dictatorship.
"On July 25th I was called to join the last meeting between Glaspie and Saddam. I was a close friend of her No. 2 at the embassy, Joseph Wilson, who in turn met with Saddam on August 7th, before leaving Iraq permanently. I remember this because it was my birthday. Joseph was an excellent Arabist, and spoke our language correctly. He, like Glaspie, was well aware of the situation.
"In any event, Glaspie arrived breathless at the meeting. She was offended because security wanted to take her handbag. `What happened to diplomatic immunity?' she snapped at me. Then she got upset because she was told that she could not expose the soles of her shoes to the president or cross her legs in his presence.
"But she had good news for us. It was a message for Saddam from President Bush [senior]. `It is not U.S. policy to interfere in inter-Arab affairs,' she said to us in English.
"I must admit, however, that one thing has puzzled me ever since: If we had been given a green light for the attack, how is it that Glaspie, who was not married and lived in Baghdad with her sick, elderly mother, did not change her plans to go on vacation on July 26th? I am convinced that that day she understood our plans to send armored divisions toward Kuwait City. So how come 24 hours later she went on vacation?"
Vatican debacle
In the following years Al-Zubaydi assisted Tariq Aziz in his diplomatic efforts concerning the Vatican. By that time Iraq had become a pariah state, blacklisted, its population increasingly poor. The first objective was to combat isolation, work to resume oil sales on the free market, try to undermine the legitimacy of the embargo and -- in the halls of the presidential palaces in Baghdad -- to convince Saddam to pay more attention to foreign affairs, in light of the fact that after a decision he took in 1986, he did not meet with foreign diplomatic representatives accredited in Iraq, except in unusual cases.
Aziz, the only Christian in the government, even managed to get the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, to come to Baghdad. "But," recalls Al-Zubaydi, "his meeting with Saddam turned into just another missed opportunity. Silvestrini is an excellent diplomat. He tried to explain to the president that he must accept the conditions imposed by the UN forthwith, and cooperate with the inspectors sent to investigate Iraq's arsenal of non-conventional weapons.
"He also spoke of openness toward Israel: 'You see, we have ancient, historical differences with Israel, and many reasons for dispute -- Jerusalem, the holy places, the manner in which they treat the Christian communities. Yet, we are establishing full diplomatic relations with them. There is no other way if we want peace in the Middle East.'
"But Saddam's interpretation of the whole thing was that the diplomat from the Holy See had come in order to act as mediator, or worse. In his paranoia, he suspected him to be an agent sent by Israel. He was exceedingly irritated, insulted and unnecessarily aggressive.
"I later drove Silvestrini back to his room at the Rashid Hotel. He did not hide his disappointment: `Your president is wrong, dead wrong about the world. He must change or he'll be the cause of terrible tragedies for himself and for his country,' he said to me. Then he looked me in the eyes, worried and pessimistic: `My young friend, with this president, you and your family are in serious danger.'"
The missed opportunity par excellence, however, came in 2000, when Iraq turned down a request by the Pope to launch the second millennium celebrations with a visit to Ur, considered the birthplace of Abraham.
Al-Zubaydi: "I was then ambassador to Indonesia. I was asked to give the opening address at a conference on interfaith dialogue in which Kofi Annan also participated.
"After my talk, the UN secretary-general approached me of his own initiative and said: `You Iraqis, I don't understand you. I just don't understand you at all! Are you insane? The Pope's visit could have been a gift on a silver platter -- international legitimization of great importance, an opportunity to denounce the embargo, a mortal blow to the isolation imposed on you by Washington and London. And what do you do? You give them a slap in the face?'
"He was obviously 100 percent right. I discussed it with Tariq Aziz, who let out a big sigh of despair and then said: `Write about it. Make a nice detailed report for the president's office and for the foreign minister. Quote Annan word for word.'
"A few weeks later I received a direct reply from [Iraqi Foreign Minister] Naji Sabri: `Are you looking for trouble? Don't meddle in affairs that do not concern you.'
"I was then recalled from Jakarta, punished, my passport was taken away and I was interrogated by the Mukhabarat, who for the umpteenth time were looking to me for evidence to incriminate Tariq Aziz.
"But this was the way things were during the last months. The only friends we had left were people of [right-wing Austrian politician] Jorg Haider's ilk. In 2002 he paid us no less than three visits. People said that circles on the Austrian extreme right received huge sums of money from Iraq, up to tens of millions of dollars.
"Perhaps Naji Sabri himself, a dear friend of Haider, found refuge there after the war. We had lost the Pope and gained Haider. What a deal! It was obvious that we were going to lose the war, and the rats were scurrying for cover before the first shot was ever fired."
" Novels. He used to spend hours and hours engrossed in long, fantastic stories in the popular Arab tradition, but also undoubtedly inspired by autobiographical motifs: great loves, besieged castles, memorable battles and above all betrayed and treacherous princes, family intrigues, embittered kings stabbed in the back by their own sons --all set in Mesopotamia of Assyro-Babylonian times (it is no secret that Saddam considered himself a modern-day
Nebuchadnezzar)."
Thus the image of "Saddam the writer" may be added to the innumerable depictions of the tyrant that appeared on Iraq's walls during his 24-year reign (i.e., of Saddam the architect, Saddam the peasant, Saddam dressed up as a business man, a pilot, a soldier, a lawyer, a sailor, a Shi'ite imam, a Kurdish hunter, and hundreds of others) --according to Sa'adoon al-Zubaydi, as he explained during more than 15 hours of interviews.
Al-Zubaydi, 55, an Oxford graduate, Shakespearean scholar, professor of English literature at Baghdad University, and former ambassador to Indonesia (1995-2001), was personal translator of the president before and after his term as envoy, as well as editor of Saddam's writings.
"Saddam became a prolific author, albeit of inferior quality. Lately the editing of his books had turned into a full-time job," says Al-Zubaydi, pulling out of his briefcase one of two novels he had been correcting in the weeks just before the war broke out, on March 20.
The presidential publisher, Al-Hurriah (Freedom), managed to complete the printing of this book just hours before the fighting ended in the capital, on April 10. More than 300 pages long, it has a glossy cover depicting two blazing towers flanked by a devil, a young woman wearing a veil and a warrior brandishing a sword decorated with the symbols of Islam.
The author's name does not appear. Instead, Saddam always ordered the same phrase printed on his books: "A novel written by its author." The title refers to the upcoming future of Iraq: "Get Out of Here, You Cursed Ones!"
Al-Zubaydi: "It tells the story of the invasion of the country during the rule of King Ibrahim, 15 centuries before the birth of Christ. Obviously Saddam anticipated the American attack and wanted somehow to foretell it in his novel. In many ways I think he almost wished for it. In his innermost being he wanted a change in his life.
"For a long time he had been saying that sumptuous living in the presidential palaces had corrupted the leadership of the Ba'ath party along with his entire family. He saw plots and conspiracies everywhere. He especially feared his eldest son Uday. He may have wanted to get rid of him once and for all.
"Repeatedly I heard rumors at the palace to the effect that he even gave his blessing to the attempted murder of his son in 1996. But this was taboo, especially in the tribal mentality that has always permeated Saddam's view of the world. Uday was seriously injured and, as a result, became much crueler, spoiled and capricious than before, but also less politically dangerous.
"In his last novel, the character of the perfidious son is personified by Ezekiel, a name taken from local Jewish tradition. This is not a coincidence: Saddam uses this name for three of the negative characters in his five books.
"Saddam felt betrayed by Israel after the bombing of the nuclear reactor of Osiraq in June of 1981. 'I wage war on Iran, which is dangerous for the entire Middle East, and they repay me by stabbing me in the back?' he used to say.
"So Ezekiel secretly allies himself with the invaders," Al-Zubaydi says, "but Ibrahim finds him out, has him killed, and then flees to the desert to organize a guerrilla war together with the Bedouin tribes who had remained loyal to the king.
"The plot is simple, but encapsulates Saddam's idea of utopia: a return to armed struggle, to Spartan life, on the run. He longed for the golden days of his youth, when he was being hunted down after the failed coup attempt in 1958. He spoke about it often, with nostalgia. He longed to return to some improbable original state of purity. And, if I know him, he might now be happy living in hiding with a small group of his staunchest followers, subsisting on yogurt and dates somewhere among the reeds on the banks of the Tigris."
Humanizing Saddam
Certainly, Al-Zubaydi has good reason to insist on publicly criticizing the regime of which he was a part until the very last. On the other hand, however, he somehow tries to humanize Saddam's image.
"This is the first time I have spoken up since the end of the war. I am afraid. Iraq was and remains a republic of terror. My position is a difficult one. I was a public figure. Everyone remembers my appearance on television at the end of February, when I served as interpreter in the interview Saddam gave to CBS [anchorman] Dan Rather.
"For many Iraqis I am one of the former dictatorial regime's privileged few--- a man worthy of condemnation. They don't know that I was not looked upon favorably by the secret services. I could be killed. As for the Americans, although they now use my paid services, I remain a potential enemy," he explains in an offended tone, soon after he was treated badly at a checkpoint, when an Iraqi translator pointed him out to the American soldiers as "a criminal on the run."
But the learned ambassador is not running anywhere. Rather, he is trying to adapt. He says he is broke. "I have not received my salary since February," he says, hopeful of finding work in the UN or with some international agency.
His account should be taken with a grain of salt. It reflects all the current ambiguities of Iraqi intellectuals who served in the Ba'ath, and are now trying to find their place in the new system built by the Americans. He doesn't want to disown his past, and yet his future is at stake. Hence the attempt to present a softer Saddam, the victim of a system he built with much cruelty, and over which, near the end, he no longer had complete control. But Al-Zubaydi gives us previously unpublished inside information from the palace in Baghdad, and a version of the facts that history may one day have to take into account.
Saddam's most autobiographical novel is his first, "Zabiba and the King," with a title and a plot worthy of "A Thousand and One Nights."
Al-Zubaydi: "Saddam turned 63 in 2000. That was the period in which his disenchantment with power began. An absolute ruler, frustrated, plagued with delusions of grandeur, embittered by the embargo, and perhaps also by the onset of old age, he fell in love with Iman, 24, daughter of Abdul Tawab al-Mullah Howeish, one of his advisers, who --in exchange for his consent to the marriage --was appointed minister of military industries. It is she, his fourth wife, who gave him the inspiration and the vitality, who encouraged him to pick up pen and paper," says Al-Zubaydi.
The 180-page book tells the story of an absolute monarch involved in a relentless war against invaders, who -- thanks to his love for a young married woman -- is able to prevail and defeat the enemy. Moreover, Zabiba divorces her first husband (as, in fact, happened in the case of Iman) and, being from a poor family, also manages to return the king to his roots and his people, and even restore his faith in God.
Illegible texts
Saddam's writing is simple, filled with peasant dialect and grammatical errors typical of an autodidact. But he had been writing continuously: In 2001 he produced the 600-page "The Fortified Castle," and immediately proceeded to write the 320-page "The Men and the City."
"Often the text is illegible. It must be rewritten, clarified. It is not true, however, that the texts were written by his secretary, as has been insinuated. I have seen all of the original manuscripts. They were written in Saddam's typical orderly handwriting, with few deletions and many repetitions. When he stumbled upon a new word, especially a complicated one, he would become fascinated with it and use it again and again, almost always inappropriately."
But Al-Zubaydi's story goes far beyond Saddam's literary pretensions. In the last year of the dictatorship, the translator's desk was in Tariq Aziz's office.
"Week in and week out, I saw his fears of the inevitability of the conflict and our certain defeat grow," he recalls.
Al-Zubaydi inevitably devotes special attention to Aziz, who eventually became his mentor and with whom he was close, both during Aziz's term as foreign minister and during the most dangerous times, when "Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay, the secret services and the extremely powerful Tikriti clan waged a merciless war against him" - i.e., during the infighting over leadership, of which Al-Zubaydi considers himself a victim.
"In the last period the true reins of power were in the hands of Naji Hadith, foreign minister since 2001; Saddam's personal secretary, Abedal-Hamoud; the omnipresent head of the Mukhabarat [Iraqi intelligence service], Taher Abdul Jalil al-Habboush; and -- of course -- Qusay and the two vice-presidents Izzat Ibrahim and Taha Yassin Ramadan. They had taken over the military circles linked to the Mukhabarat at the expense of figures such as Tariq Aziz who, although among the founding fathers of the Ba'ath in the `60s, remained civilian functionaries.
"Tariq was also a Christian, and more importantly, did not belong to Saddam's tribal clan. This was enough to make him suspect. Saddam needed him because he was the only one who knew how to speak to the West, but all the others hated him and feared him like a snake in the grass."
"The proof? In 2001 Tariq's eldest son, Ziad, was thrown in jail for 47 days after having being accused of corruption. This was an unequivocal message from the military: Your loved ones are our hostages. Do not dare to betray us or try to escape to the West. We will slaughter your entire family, especially your two sons.
"This threat remained in force until the war. Around March 10th, I saw a letter on Tariq's desk that he had been writing to [UN Secretary-General] Kofi Annan, in an attempt to negotiate an agreement whereby Saddam would suspend himself in return for a postponement of the American attack.
"I don't know whether it had been shown to the president's office. I think he might have been too afraid to do that. I do know however, that the terrible threat to slaughter his family persisted. Tariq turned himself in to the Americans on April 24th, not before ensuring safe passage to Amman for his wife, his sons and one of his two daughters. I think now he feels free to collaborate."
It should be noted that Al-Zubaydi goes to great length to stress that Tariq Aziz has always been and remains a pan-Arab ideologue of the Ba'ath. "He could not stand the brutal aspects of the dictatorship. He feared Uday's corrupt and cruel ways. He felt persecuted by the Mukhabarat, and yet he remained a staunch anti-American. He thought that the Arabs should join the Europeans and together curb the excessive power the U.S. has been accumulating."
"Seven Poles" theory
From 1987 to 1995 Al-Zubaydi served as personal translator to the president, even in the most confidential meetings (he would subsequently return to this post after his term in Jakarta, from 2002 to 2003). In this capacity, he attended the most sensitive meetings concerning the Gulf War. He was at Saddam's side when the latter received delegations from around the world who came to Baghdad to obtain the release of foreign hostages. But before all that happened, Al-Zubaydi recalls, some interesting events took place.
"In May 1987 an Iraqi missile accidentally hit the American frigate Stark, causing the death of 37 sailors. I was asked to translate the meetings between Saddam and the U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Near East, Richard Murphy. I remember my surprise when I learned that at the time, there was extensive exchange of intelligence between Washington and Baghdad during the war against Iran.
"Following the end of the Cold War, Saddam formulated his 'Seven Poles' thesis, according to which in the near future the world would be dominated not only by the U.S., Russia and China, but also by India, Japan and France, as the leader of the European countries. As for the Arab world, who if not Iraq would be the beacon?
"Saddam could not stand the British. He never forgave them their colonial past in Iraq. He especially disliked Margaret Thatcher. I am still convinced that it was none other than the arrogant tones in the letter sent to Saddam by the former British prime minister, demanding the immediate release of Farzad Bazoft, the British journalist of Iranian origin accused of espionage, that prompted Saddam to give the green light for Bazoft's hanging on March 15, 1990."
For France, on the other hand, Saddam had a soft spot. "He deluded himself that he knew Parisian politics well, simply because he was there once on an official visit and they rolled out the red carpet for him. In fact, he understood nothing. He did not understand that France was above all interested in selling arms. The truth is that things were not exactly rosy with the Elysee Palace either. When Jacques Chirac called Saddam personally in 1988 and asked him to release a certain number of Iranian agents held in Iraqi prisons, Saddam merely shrugged."
The invasion of Kuwait on the night of August 2, 1990 brought Al-Zubaydi back to the center of activity. This was the turning point in the history of Iraq, which paved the way for two wars, leading up to the fall of the dictatorship last April.
"I was present at all three meetings between Saddam and then U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie, during her three-year term. I can say with certainty that the Americans had in fact been notified of the intention to attack Kuwait, and responded with tacit acquiescence. Furthermore, as late as mid-July, the State Department sent a telegram with personal apologies to the president after the latter had protested against certain broadcasts on the Voice of America that were critical of the Ba'ath dictatorship.
"On July 25th I was called to join the last meeting between Glaspie and Saddam. I was a close friend of her No. 2 at the embassy, Joseph Wilson, who in turn met with Saddam on August 7th, before leaving Iraq permanently. I remember this because it was my birthday. Joseph was an excellent Arabist, and spoke our language correctly. He, like Glaspie, was well aware of the situation.
"In any event, Glaspie arrived breathless at the meeting. She was offended because security wanted to take her handbag. `What happened to diplomatic immunity?' she snapped at me. Then she got upset because she was told that she could not expose the soles of her shoes to the president or cross her legs in his presence.
"But she had good news for us. It was a message for Saddam from President Bush [senior]. `It is not U.S. policy to interfere in inter-Arab affairs,' she said to us in English.
"I must admit, however, that one thing has puzzled me ever since: If we had been given a green light for the attack, how is it that Glaspie, who was not married and lived in Baghdad with her sick, elderly mother, did not change her plans to go on vacation on July 26th? I am convinced that that day she understood our plans to send armored divisions toward Kuwait City. So how come 24 hours later she went on vacation?"
Vatican debacle
In the following years Al-Zubaydi assisted Tariq Aziz in his diplomatic efforts concerning the Vatican. By that time Iraq had become a pariah state, blacklisted, its population increasingly poor. The first objective was to combat isolation, work to resume oil sales on the free market, try to undermine the legitimacy of the embargo and -- in the halls of the presidential palaces in Baghdad -- to convince Saddam to pay more attention to foreign affairs, in light of the fact that after a decision he took in 1986, he did not meet with foreign diplomatic representatives accredited in Iraq, except in unusual cases.
Aziz, the only Christian in the government, even managed to get the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, to come to Baghdad. "But," recalls Al-Zubaydi, "his meeting with Saddam turned into just another missed opportunity. Silvestrini is an excellent diplomat. He tried to explain to the president that he must accept the conditions imposed by the UN forthwith, and cooperate with the inspectors sent to investigate Iraq's arsenal of non-conventional weapons.
"He also spoke of openness toward Israel: 'You see, we have ancient, historical differences with Israel, and many reasons for dispute -- Jerusalem, the holy places, the manner in which they treat the Christian communities. Yet, we are establishing full diplomatic relations with them. There is no other way if we want peace in the Middle East.'
"But Saddam's interpretation of the whole thing was that the diplomat from the Holy See had come in order to act as mediator, or worse. In his paranoia, he suspected him to be an agent sent by Israel. He was exceedingly irritated, insulted and unnecessarily aggressive.
"I later drove Silvestrini back to his room at the Rashid Hotel. He did not hide his disappointment: `Your president is wrong, dead wrong about the world. He must change or he'll be the cause of terrible tragedies for himself and for his country,' he said to me. Then he looked me in the eyes, worried and pessimistic: `My young friend, with this president, you and your family are in serious danger.'"
The missed opportunity par excellence, however, came in 2000, when Iraq turned down a request by the Pope to launch the second millennium celebrations with a visit to Ur, considered the birthplace of Abraham.
Al-Zubaydi: "I was then ambassador to Indonesia. I was asked to give the opening address at a conference on interfaith dialogue in which Kofi Annan also participated.
"After my talk, the UN secretary-general approached me of his own initiative and said: `You Iraqis, I don't understand you. I just don't understand you at all! Are you insane? The Pope's visit could have been a gift on a silver platter -- international legitimization of great importance, an opportunity to denounce the embargo, a mortal blow to the isolation imposed on you by Washington and London. And what do you do? You give them a slap in the face?'
"He was obviously 100 percent right. I discussed it with Tariq Aziz, who let out a big sigh of despair and then said: `Write about it. Make a nice detailed report for the president's office and for the foreign minister. Quote Annan word for word.'
"A few weeks later I received a direct reply from [Iraqi Foreign Minister] Naji Sabri: `Are you looking for trouble? Don't meddle in affairs that do not concern you.'
"I was then recalled from Jakarta, punished, my passport was taken away and I was interrogated by the Mukhabarat, who for the umpteenth time were looking to me for evidence to incriminate Tariq Aziz.
"But this was the way things were during the last months. The only friends we had left were people of [right-wing Austrian politician] Jorg Haider's ilk. In 2002 he paid us no less than three visits. People said that circles on the Austrian extreme right received huge sums of money from Iraq, up to tens of millions of dollars.
"Perhaps Naji Sabri himself, a dear friend of Haider, found refuge there after the war. We had lost the Pope and gained Haider. What a deal! It was obvious that we were going to lose the war, and the rats were scurrying for cover before the first shot was ever fired."
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