IRAQ: A former Iraqi civil servant has a different slant on Saddam Hussein, writes Lara Marlowe, in Paris
Saman Abdul Majid is the ordinary face of Saddam Hussein's fallen regime. The slightly-built, bald, former civil servant wears wire-rimmed glasses, a suit and tie. Though he worked for 15 years as Saddam's interpreter and was a member of the Ba'ath Party, Mr Majid claims in his new book, The Saddam Years; Exclusive Revelations, launched at a press conference here yesterday, that he "was never fond of the regime".
Mr Majid was a cog in the machine, one of the innumerable factotums without whom no dictatorship can function. That he comes from the oppressed Kurdish minority makes his loyalty to Saddam even more distasteful. Like the clichéd monkeys, he still sees, hears and speaks no evil.
Readers have been shocked by Mr Majid's positive portrayal of Saddam. "His image in the media is of a dictator, a monster, a villain and nothing else," the interpreter says. "In my book, I try to be objective, not take a position for or against him. I don't deny he could be very repressive with his enemies. I spent time with Saddam Hussein when he received foreign guests, diplomats and journalists. I was not there when he met with the intelligence services. The man I saw was very sympathique, concerned that everyone around him be comfortable."
The way Mr Majid tells it, Saddam's courtesy towards his staff was exemplary. "Several times during interpreting sessions, when I was too busy to drink the tea or juice that was served to me, he would interrupt the conversation and say, 'Saman, drink your tea!' I was a low-ranking civil servant. He treated all his underlings at the presidency the same way. What I saw was a kind man who accepted to be contradicted. You could say anything to him."
But what of the first-hand reports of Saddam's cruelty, of the murders of friends, relatives, Kurds, Shia and marsh Arabs? Of torture?
"The Americans demonised him," Mr Majid says. "They spent a lot of money and effort to compare him to Hitler and Stalin. It was an organised media campaign." Mr Majid does not deny that evil acts were perpetrated by Saddam. "I have told only what I know about, and I had no part in the other. I heard friends and relatives talk about torture, but I only recount things I know. How could I talk about torture when I never went into a prison?"
Journalists would have to interview former members of the security services to learn such things, he added. There were times, Mr Majid admits, translating "the president's" propaganda speeches, when he felt a little embarrassed. But his education helped him. "With time you get used to such things. You tell yourself, 'I'm a professional interpreter'.
"When I attended interpreters' school here in Paris, they taught us that an official interpreter does not express his ideas. You're not responsible for what you translate; you have to know how to control your own feelings and convey ideas whether you agree with them or not. My professional training helped me detach myself from the content."
Mr Majid is now an interpreter for Al-Jazeera television station in Qatar, translating Gen Ricardo Sanchez' press conferences into Arabic. The other day, the head of US forces in Iraq said that Iraqis are "still afraid of the ghost of Saddam Hussein". But Mr Majid believes the Americans need the possibility of Saddam's return as a "bogey" to justify their continued presence.
In Le Parisien newspaper, Mr Majid defended the attack that killed 18 Italians and nine Iraqis in Nassiriya on Wednesday.
"Every attack against soldiers occupying our country is a legitimate act of resistance," he said. "It is a duty for every Muslim to resist and fight the occupiers."
He condemned suicide bombings against civilians, the UN and the Red Cross, saying they could not possibly be the work of Iraqis. But 11 of those killed at Nasiriya were Italian and Iraqi civilians.
If US forces ever catch Saddam, Mr Majid feels certain they will not take him alive.
"Knowing President Saddam for more than 15 years at close quarters, his personality and his mentality, he would never surrender. He'd put a bullet in his head before he'd let an American lay a hand on him."