Aziz - The London Telegraph

Aziz - The London Telegraph is kicking off the speculation that Tariq Aziz was the "mole" in the Hussein regime.

The background sounds typical for any Stalinist regime:

Saddam Hussein's security chiefs placed members of Tariq Aziz's family under arrest shortly before the start of the war to make sure that the former Iraqi deputy prime minister did not defect to the West, The Telegraph can reveal.

Concerns about the fate of his family - in particular his eldest son - if he surrendered to coalition forces was Aziz's primary concern during the lengthy negotiations that finally resulted in his decision to give himself up at the end of last week.

"Tariq was still terrified of what the remnants of Saddam's regime would do to his family if he surrendered to us," said a Western security officer. "Even if Saddam were dead, he knew that there were still Ba'ath Party loyalists who would want to exact revenge on his family."

Then, according to the Telegraph, the plot thickens:

As part of Aziz's surrender terms, coalition commanders agreed to place the Iraqi politician's immediate family under the equivalent of protective custody to ensure that they were safe from revenge attacks by Saddam loyalists.

But yesterday the favourable surrender terms agreed between coalition commanders and Aziz prompted speculation that Saddam's trusted foreign policy adviser may in fact be the Iraqi spy who provided the intelligence responsible for the cruise missile attack on the Iraqi dictator's bunker in southern Baghdad in the opening salvoes of the conflict.

Intelligence officials have claimed that the information they received that allowed them to target Saddam's bunker came from a "senior official" within the Ba'ath regime, and as one of the leading members of the ruling Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) Aziz would have prior warning that Saddam was planning to hold a meeting at one of his heavily-fortified bunkers.

"You get the feeling, now that Aziz is safely in American custody, that he will be getting re-acquainted with people he has known for quite some time," said a former CIA officer who specialises in Iraq.

"The information that enabled the coalition forces to target Saddam in the opening hours of the war could only have come from someone like Aziz who had access to Saddam's inner circle."

It'd be ludicrous for me to try to pretend I know, one way or another. But whether the "senior" official is Aziz or someone very close to him, some parts of the profile for a "mole" seem to fit, as I understand them (and bear in mind, my understanding comes purely from reading; in a bit more depth than, say, Tom Clancy or John LeCarre, but not much):

• Aziz spent lots of time overseas. There was ample time for him to have been contacted over the past decades by western intelligence. This could have resulted in Aziz being recruited as a voluntary agent - or compromised enough to have been turned into a not-entirely-willing one.
• Even a passing contact with western intelligence could have been enough to "turn" Aziz, even against his will; Hussein killed anyone who even smelled treasonous to him, and their families, too.
• I just learned this the other day; Aziz was the only Christian in Hussein's inner circle. The persecution that Iraq's Christians faced could have helped Aziz' loyalties turn

It has the makings of a great story, someday.

Posted by Mitch at April 27, 2003 07:59 AM