Aziz fell, vicepremier of Saddam

More well-known was the Iraqian civil employee after the president; it would have negotiated his surrender in Bagdad

BAGDAD. - The North American forces captured yesterday Tarek Aziz, ex- Vice Prime Minister of Iraq and the Iraqian leader more well-known in the world after Saddam Hussein.

Considered in diplomatic circles like "the leader presentable and shining" of the demoted regime, Aziz occupies number 43 in the list of the Iraqian civil employees more looked for by the United States; he is the 8 of swords in the letter deck distributed by the Central Commando between his troops to identify the leaders of the regime.

From Doha, the spokesman of the North American Central Commando, Dani flagship Burrows, said: "We can confirm that Tarek Aziz is now under control of the coalition". He added that he did not know if the ex- civil employee gave itself voluntarily or was captured.

In the White House, president George W. Bush smiled and raised the thumb when the journalists asked to him on the capture of Aziz. Later, in an interview with the chain NBC, the North American agent chief executive he said that the occupation of Iraq would last two years and conjectured that Saddam could in the beginning have died during one of the aerial attacks of the war.

North American civil employees think that Aziz could contribute data on the destiny of the ex- Iraqian president and on its arms of massive destruction, by which the United States and Great Britain sent their offensive on Iraq, the 20 of March. Aziz was looked for by crimes military in the invasions in Iran and Kuwait; in those years, it integrated the Council of the Iraqian Revolution, the center of being able of Saddam.

Ex- chancellor, ex- vicepremier and several times minister, Aziz were more visible the public face of the government of Saddam. He was he who used to respond to the accusations of Washington in the United Nations; only Christian member of the Iraqian cabinet, also was he who, in last February, traveled to the Vatican to request to the Pope Juan to him Pablo II whom he pressed to the United States to delay the advance on Bagdad.

Although he was one of the most loyal advisers to Saddam, Aziz, like most of whom they did not belong to the Tikriti clan - of the native city of Saddam -, practically did not have to be able, according to American civil employees.

That would explain its long permanence next to the Iraqian leader, whom knew when both were young militants of the Baath party. Without a base of being able independent, it did not represent a threat for Saddam.

Aziz was born in 1936 near the northern city of Aziz, she studied English Literature in the School of Beautiful Arts of Bagdad and she dedicated to teaching and the media. It entered to the Baath party in 1957 and collaborated closely with Saddam to overthrow the monarchy imposed by the British. In those years it changed his name, Mikhail Yuhanna, by the one of Tarek Aziz, who in Arab means "glorious past".

In 1980, it survived an attempt of murder in Bagdad perpetrated by an Islamic fundamentalist group supported by Iran. The attack was one of so many reason why Saddam blamed to Tehran and was used like pretext for the Iraqian invasion to the neighboring country that year.

Aziz played a key role in the restoration of the diplomatic relations with Washington in 1984 after an interruption of 17 years. In 1983 Secretary of Defense had met with the today Donald Rumsfeld, then envoy of president Ronald Reagan. The United States endorsed then to Iraq like dock of containment of the Iranian Islamic extremism.

The ex- chancellor is the twelfth arrested Iraqian civil employee after the fall of the regime. According to the chain Cnn, Aziz he used an intermediary to surrender to the present American infants in Bagdad. Vicepremier would have looked for to put conditions for its surrender, but these were discarded.

During the later sackings in Bagdad to the fall of the regime, the residence of Aziz was drained by tens of Iraqians. There, according to marines, were biographies of American politicians like Jimmy Carter, Cyrus Vance, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger and Colin Powell.

Also they were found habanos Cuban, Scottish whiskey and hundreds of discs, among them of Frank Sinatra and Diana Ross, in addition to videos of the saga the Padrino, film of which was fanatical: it had copies of the three of the film of Francis Ford Coppola.

After the surrender of Aziz it follows the mystery by the destiny of Saddam. The versions are many. Some say that it is sheltered in an underground site of Bagdad, that escaped towards Syria or Bielorrusia. The BBC and the London newspaper Daily Star Sunday informed that it is in Iraq.

Tarek Aziz: to vicepremier.

Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti: civil employee of the Baath party.

Watban Ibrahim al-Tikriti: civil employee of the Baath party.

Mohammed Hazmaq al-Zubaidi: commander of the central region of the Euphrates.

Homam Abdel Jalek Abdel Gafar: minister of Superior Education and Investigacio'n.

Jamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti: assistant director of Tribal Subjects.

Hekmat Ibrahim al-Azzawi: minister of Finances.

Al-Aziz Samir al-Najim: head of the Baath party in the region this of Bagdad.

Amer al-Saadi: presidential scientific advisor.

Muzahem Saab Hassan al-Tikriti: commander of the Air Force.

Zuhair al-Naquib: head of military intelligence.

Mohammed Mehdi Saleh: minister of Commerce.