International face of the regimeAziz, a member of Iraq’s Chaldean Catholic minority, became internationally known as Saddam’s defender and fierce American critic after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent 1991 Gulf War.
He was later promoted to deputy prime minister and often represented Iraq at the United Nations and other international forums. Just weeks before the U.S.-led invasion, Aziz met with the late Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in a bid to head off the conflict.
In late 2002, he called Washington’s allegations that Iraq still held weapons of mass destruction a “hoax” and a pretext to wage war.
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