Tariq Aziz, Iraq’s former foreign minister and deputy prime minister, who loyally provided an urbane facade to Saddam Hussein’s unspeakably brutal regime, has died in hospital at the age of 79.
George Galloway once wrote of his experience on “the crowded dance floor of a North African nightclub … dancing with Tariq Aziz, the deputy prime minister of Iraq.”
After Aziz was arrested, Galloway called him a “political prisoner” and said:
“The obvious fact is that Mr Tariq Aziz is a more respectful man than the people who are holding him now. He is viewed with high esteem worldwide by figures like the Pope in the Vatican and other international figures who have valued his counsel, met him, discussed and negotiated with him. He is an eminent diplomatic and intellectual person.”
Aziz apparently had little voice in deciding Iraqi policy during Saddam’s reign, but he was always willing to defend, excuse or deny his boss’s worst outrages and serve as his diplomatic mouthpiece.
He was sentenced to death in 2010, but Iraq’s president refused to sign the death sentence.
Nevertheless Galloway tweeted on the news of Aziz’s death:
The death of Tariq Aziz in the hands the Govt of Iraq was cruel, unjustified, pointless and can only deepen division in the country
— George Galloway (@georgegalloway) June 5, 2015
And he retweeted this:
@georgegalloway one of his last finest clips http://t.co/lu7BrR2qeg
— karma (@lordhawhaw1) June 5, 2015
Update: Some appalling tweets from Channel 4 news anchor Jon Snow:
Former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz has died in jail: Nice guy in a nasty situation – made no better by Bush/BLair's Shock and Awe
— Jon Snow (@jonsnowC4) June 5, 2015
I spent time with Tariq Aziz, interviewed him often..Christian that he was – they didn't kill him, they just let him rot to death in jail
— Jon Snow (@jonsnowC4) June 5, 2015
If there’s a connection between those tweets and this, it’s willful ignorance.
(Hat tip: Harvela)
Alec adds: from Evert in the comments, Robert Webb calls out the Walter Duranty and Hewlett Johnson of Channel Four News.
Jon Snow has finally lost his shit. https://t.co/GtXynBkv6e
— Robert Webb (@arobertwebb) June 5, 2015
