US pushing Iraq to its death

Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz calls on the US president to compensate for the damages that the US-led invasion has inflicted on Iraq and leave the country.

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Aziz accused President Barack Obama of pushing Iraq into complete devastation by deciding to pull out US troops before the country achieves stability.

“We are all victims of America and Britain. They killed our country in many ways. When you make a mistake you need to correct a mistake, not leave Iraq to its death,” he told the British daily on Thursday in his prison cell in Baghdad.

Describing Iraq’s current condition as much worse than when Saddam Hussein was leading the country, Aziz urged the United States to stay in the country to correct the mistakes it had made since the 2003 invasion.

“I was encouraged when [Obama] was elected president, because I thought he was going to correct some of the mistakes of Bush. But Obama is a hypocrite. He is leaving Iraq to the wolves,” Aziz, who was the face of Saddam Hussein’s regime on the world stage for many years said.

He added that “there are more sick than before, more hungry and he people don’t have services. People are being killed every day.”

Aziz, who is one of Saddam’s few surviving cohorts, made the remarks after President Obama announced earlier in the week that American combat troops would leave Iraq this month.

The former deputy premier, 73, turned himself in to US forces in April 2003. He has been convicted by the Iraqi High Tribunal and has received two prison sentences: 15 years for his role in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants allegedly guilty of profiteering and seven years for his involvement in the forced displacement of the Kurds in northern Iraq.