Known as the "mouthpiece of Saddam," Aziz is a former Iraqi congressman, prime minister and foreign minister. So what is its bottom line after the Iraq War?
Aziz was born in 1936 in the city of Sinjar, near Mosul, Iraq.
Azizi's father, a restaurant chef whose real name is Mikhal Juhana, is a Christian. This is unique among Saddam Hussein's politicians. Later, in order to avoid unnecessary problems and attacks from his Christian identity and political opponents, Aziz changed his name to Tariq Aziz.
In 1958, at the age of 22, Aziz graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Baghdad in Iraq.
In addition to his extraordinary achievements in the arts, Aziz also has a deep foundation in etiquette, speech and interpersonal skills. This laid a solid foundation for him to become an outstanding diplomat.
While at university, Aziz joined the Arab Baath Party. During this time, he became acquainted with Saddam Hussein and became friends with him.
In 1960, Aziz became a teacher at the University of Baghdad. He then joined the government and worked in the Baath Party's cultural studies department.
In 1968, Aziz became a journalist and served on the editorial boards of the Baathist newspaper "Revolution Newspaper" and "Workers' Consciousness". From 1970 he was editor-in-chief and Minister of Information of the newspaper Revolution newspaper.
In 1979, a year after Saddam Hussein came to power, Aziz became deputy prime minister of Saddam's regime.
In 1983, the eloquent and eloquent Aziz became the fourth most important person in Saddam's regime, along with Iraq's foreign minister.
It was only at this time that Aziz regularly appeared in the international community and entered the public eye.
Aziz gives the impression of wise eyes under thick lenses. He has silver hair and wears a neat and dignified dark green military uniform, showing calm and sophistication.
Aziz was fluent in many Chinese languages, especially fluent English, which brought him comfort in diplomatic situations. His diplomatic rhetoric was neither condescending nor arrogant, just right, and soft, and was dubbed "Saddam's mouthpiece" by the Western media.
Aziz truly deserves the title, and he has a wealth of experience in diplomacy. He once said: "The magic of diplomacy is not in words, but in accurately grasping the situation and using different interests to persuade and challenge opponents." ”
In the later stages of the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq faced a lack of weapons and an unfavorable situation. With Saddam's mission, Aziz lobbied in various countries to seek enormous political and material support for Iraq.
A visit to France in 1987 successfully brought Iraq warships capable of launching Exocet missiles. The Exocet demonstrated its power in the Falklands War in 1982, sinking the British destroyer Sheffield. He also persuaded the Soviets to sell MiG-29 fighters and Scud missiles to Iraq. At the same time, thanks to Aziz's diplomatic mediation, Britain, Germany and other countries secretly sold a large amount of weapons and equipment to Iraq. These weapons played a key role in reversing Iraq's withdrawal during the Iran-Iraq war.
On January 9, 1991, on the eve of the Gulf War, Aziz held talks with U.S. Secretary of State Baker in Geneva to make a last-ditch effort to avoid war.
During this time, Baker handed Aziz a letter written by Bush and asked him to forward it to Saddam. But Aziz was tough, did not read the letter from beginning to end, and threw it directly to the negotiating table.
After 8 hours of negotiations, the two sides failed to reach an agreement. On September 17, the Gulf War broke out.
In early 2003, on the eve of the Iraq War, Aziz led a delegation to Europe to seek to avert war through diplomatic efforts. But this mediation ended in failure, and Aziz completed his final mission.
In April of the same year, the US military captured Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, and Aziz became the 43rd person on the "Poker Wanted List", codenamed "8 Spades".
This seems to imply that he did not join the inner circle of Saddam's regime, let alone become a member of Saddam's so-called "Tikrite gang."
Aziz then surrendered to U.S. forces and asked for mercy for his family and allowed his wife and children to leave Iraq for refuge in Jordan. Since then, Aziz has been imprisoned.
In March 2009, Aziz was convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi District Court and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. After August 2009, the court sentenced Aziz to seven years' imprisonment for assisting Saddam Hussein in suppressing Kurds, causing a large number of casualties among Kurdish civilians.
In October 2010, Iraq's Supreme Court ruled that Aziz should be hanged for "persecuting Shiite political parties" while serving as prime minister and vice president. But then-Iraqi President Jalal Talabani claimed he would not sign the execution order for former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.
At the same time, Aziz's health is deteriorating. In addition to heart problems, he suffers from high blood pressure, diabetes and respiratory diseases. He relies on more than 10 drugs a day to stay alive.
On June 5, 2015, Aziz died of heart failure at the age of 79 in a prison hospital in southern Iraq.