Iraq: Ex-Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz to Hang

Iraqi state TV says former Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz has been sentenced to death for persecuting Shiite political parties during Saddam Hussein's regime.

State TV reported the High Criminal Court issued the death sentence Tuesday.

Aziz was charged with taking part in a campaign against members of the Dawa Party, of which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a member.

Aziz, a prominent member of Hussein's inner circle, told the FBI that the dictator "delighted" in the 1998 terrorist bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa but had no interest in partnering with Osama bin Laden, declassified documents showed recently.

"Saddam did not trust Islamists," Aziz said, according to handwritten notes of a June 27, 2004 interrogation, although he viewed al Qaeda as an "effective" organization.

The FBI interviews, which took place between January and June of 2004, included some lighter moments. A summary of the May 6 session noted that his Americans interrogators had encouraged him to write a book.

The Iraqi said he aspired to penning a memoir one day describing his life as a journalist in the 1960s and senior government official in the 1970s and beyond. But he said his cell's dim lighting, wobbly table and lack of elbow room, as well as "the conditions of camp life have dissuaded him" from attempting an autobiography, according to the FBI summary.

Aziz, who surrendered to U.S. forces soon after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, also confided that he wanted to move to Detroit, which has a large Iraqi exile community.

Much of the questioning of Aziz focused on the early years of Saddam's rule, starting in 1979, including his decision to go to war with Iran in 1980.

Illustrating Saddam's autocratic style of rule, the go-ahead for war was marked by a "simple clap(ping) of the hands" by members of the National Assembly - no debate, no recorded votes - Aziz said. He called the war, which lasted eight years and killed hundreds of thousands of combatants and civilians, "the most foolish decision" for Iraq.

Without the conflict, Aziz speculated, Iraq could have become another Switzerland.

Aziz, 74, became the international face of Iraq to millions of Americans during the 1991 Gulf War.