Iraq's U.N. ambassador under Saddam Hussein's regime said that his government deserved to be overthrown and that he would accept a trial for the former president.
But Mohammed al-Douri argued in a television interview being broadcast Monday that the Iraqis - and not the U.S.-led forces - should have been the ones to remove Saddam.
Al-Douri also told the BBC that right up until the end, Saddam did not believe the United States and Britain would invade Iraq. "It seems to me that they never believed that the war will be started," he said.
"Naji Sabri (the foreign minister), has told me: 'don't be anxious. This war will never happen.'"
Al-Douri said he advised the foreign ministry in Baghdad the threat of war was serious and he still cannot explain why they refused to accept it.
The BBC asked the former ambassador about the mass graves of hundreds of executed Iraqis that have been uncovered since the removal of Saddam.
"Those are Iraqi people, my brothers, so I regret that and I hope that all people responsible for that, for these graves have to be presented to the trial, to the judgment and to be judged by Iraqi people, not by British or American," al-Douri said.
Asked if he was prepared to condemn the regime that he served, Al-Douri said he has always condemned "any kind of killing in Iraq or outside Iraq. I am a human being."
Pressed about Saddam's responsibility in the deaths of thousands of people, al-Douri said: "If he were judged, I would accept the trial and the legitimacy of the court."
He said he thought people were glad Saddam was gone, "but they are not glad that the Americans and British are there." "The regime is over and now we have to tackle another problem, the American and British presence in Iraq as a colonialist."
Asked if Saddam's regime deserved to be toppled, al-Douri said: "Not by you, but by the Iraqi people." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
