Sadoun al-Zubaydi
Sadoun al-Zubaydi was a British-educated English literature professor at the University of Baghdad, best-known for his role as official English language translator to former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. A secularist, al-Zubaydi has refused to identify himself as a Sunni or a Shi'ite.[1]
Translator
As Saddam Hussein's personal English translator, Al-Zubaydi was a frequent fixture on television screens across the world and was present at several high-level meetings between Saddam Hussein and foreign dignitaries during the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the 1991 Gulf War and the months preceding the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. A low-ranking Iraqi Ba'ath Party member,[2] al-Zubaydi was witness to some of Saddam Hussein's most crucial talks, including a controversial July 25, 1990 meeting between Saddam and then-U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie, just days prior to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. He also translated Saddam's widely-broadcast remarks during the Iraqi President's August 23, 1990 meeting with Western hostages to whom Iraq had refused exit visas as the Persian Gulf crisis emerged. Al-Zubaydi can be heard famously asking if a young British boy named Stuart Lockwood is getting his milk while Saddam ruffles the young boy's hair.
Iraqi Ambassador to Indonesia (1995-2001)
Al-Zubaydi served as Iraq's ambassador to Indonesia from 1995 to 2001, during which time he publicly challenged the U.N. sanctions regime against Iraq. As a result, al-Zubaydi earned the nickname "Voice of the Arabs", inspired by a popular Cairo-based radio program of the same name which trumpeted Pan-Arabism and opposition to foreign rule during the 1950s and 1960s.[3]
Current Whereabouts
Al-Zubaydi emerged from self-imposed obscurity in 2005 to advise Sunni negotiators in talks over the drafting of Iraq's constitution.[4] He has been specifically targeted by numerous militia and al-Qaeda affiliates. As of March 2008, al-Zubaydi was living in exile in Syria.[5]
References
- ^ The Guardian (September 10, 2005). ""Saddam's Translator Emerges From Obscurity", Web".
- ^ The Guardian (September 10, 2005). ""Saddam's Translator Emerges From Obscurity", Web".
- ^ The Guardian (September 10, 2005). ""Saddam's Translator Emerges From Obscurity", Web".
- ^ The Guardian (September 10, 2005). ""Saddam's Translator Emerges From Obscurity", Web".
- ^ Telegraph.co.uk (March 15, 2008). ""Rageh Omaar on Iraq: A nation in pieces", Web".