Talk:Abbas Khalaf

Based on an interview by CTV's Moscow Bureau Chief Ellen Pinchuk
Saddam's ex-translator recalls chilling prediction Updated Fri. Nov. 3 2006 5:09 PM ET

Ellen Pinchuk, CTV Moscow Bureau

As his personal translator, Dr. Abbas Khalaf was a trusted member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle for 25 years -- a period that encompassed three wars, including the U.S. invasion that eventually ousted the Iraqi dictator from power.

With a verdict expected Sunday in Hussein's trial on charges he ordered the mass murder of 148 Shi'ites after a 1982 assassination attempt, Khalaf provided CTV with some unique insights into Saddam's character and what his trial means for the future of Iraq.

CTV's Moscow Bureau Chief Ellen Pinchuk interviewed Khalaf in Moscow. He humanized the man many have come to see as a monster.

"The first time I met him, my first reaction was fear," said Khalaf. "I broke into a sweat. But Saddam has an uncanny ability to read people. He saw I was nervous and ordered some juice to be brought in. He said "have a drink", and that relaxed me."

Abbas met Saddam dozens of times over the years he worked for him as his Russian translator, and later, after he was appointed as Iraq's ambassador to Moscow.

He said the infamous dictator sought out many different opinions, had a sense of humour and even enjoyed hearing the jokes that people were telling about him.

Saddam also made a chilling prediction that if he were ever removed from power, civil war would break out and the country would descend into chaos.

"He spoke about it even in the 1980s, that there would be chaos in Iraq. I heard it with my own ears, not from someone else," Khalaf said.

As someone who knew him well, Khalaf said he was careful not to "idealize Saddam and make him out to be an angel." But at the same time, he was cautious to convict the former dictator.

He described his former boss as a leader who has his "plusses and minuses" but proved himself during his 35 years as leader if Iraq. He also said he saw no evidence the Saddam was biased towards any particular group, but that he seemed to treat them all with equal harshness.

"Many people like to say that he oppressed Shi'ites. I'm a Shi'ite, not from his city, not from his clan. When I hear such things I can say from my own experience that it's an exaggeration.

"He was just in his injustice to everyone. I mean, if there was any opposition, Shi'ite or Sunni, he crushed it. For him, it didn't matter, Shi'ite, Sunni, Kurd, Arab. If they raised their heads, he put them in their place."

Abbas said Iraqis need a new leader to look to for guidance before they can condemn the former leader. With Iraq in chaos, and scores of lives being lost daily in mostly sectarian violence, Khalaf said Iraqis are feeling nostalgia for their country as it was under Saddam.

"They don't miss the man, they miss the order," he said.

That very lack of order is what has kept Khalaf and his family in Moscow -- far from their home in Baghdad, the city where he grew up. They have returned twice to visit, but fearing for their lives and shocked by the bloodshed, they have decided to await more peaceful times before they again return.

On a personal level, Khalaf admitted he has nostalgia for Saddam's leadership -- a feeling he said some Iraqis are beginning to share as daily suicide bombings, kidnappings and the U.S. military occupation become the norm.

"You could agree or disagree with him, but now even those who were secretly against him are saying he understood us better than we understood ourselves," Khalaf said.

"If you ask me personally, I sympathize with and respect my president. It was, is and always will be so."

Abbas last saw Saddam just before the U.S. invasion when he was summoned back to Baghdad. Saddam asked whether Iraq could rely on Russia's support in the event of war. He passed on the message from Moscow that Russia would help politically, but not militarily.

"His last words to me were that he had no illusions; that we would rely on Allah and on the Iraqi people," Khalaf said.

Saddam and seven other defendants face the same set of charges, considered war crimes and crimes against humanity.

They are charged with premeditated murder, imprisonment and the deprivation of physical movement, forced deportation and torture. Bnguyen 07:36, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

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