Tariq Aziz dies in prison

[lowish]

Mikhail Yuhanna was his real name. He was forced to change it because of Arab nationalism.

If anything it shows how miserable he was deep down.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

If anything it shows how miserable he was deep down.

Arabs and Assyrians are cousins and related peoples (fellow Semites) and Arabic and Assyrian are similar languages. Every Assyrian whether in Iraq or Syria is able to speak Arabic and many have Arabic names too. Many Arabic and Assyrian names are identical.

Tariq Aziz never denied his Assyrian heritage and remained a Christian to his death too.

It's just that under Ba'ath ruled Iraq Arabism (the moronic socialistic/totalitarian version, just like in Syria) was enforced so in order to get into power it was better to be an Arab than belonging to the minorities who formed 20% of Iraq's population.

It's a complete misunderstanding to believe that no Assyrians or Kurds were part of the Saddam regime. Many Assyrians and Kurds had high positions in the society, including Iraqi Shia Arabs from the South.

All of this did not matter, the only thing that mattered was holding power and being loyal to the regime same like anywhere else.

Also the reason why many minorities if not most supported the Saddam regime and support the Al-Assad regime is because those regimes were mostly secular. They were/are left alone under the condition of loyalty to the regime.

In the end the goal is power and if religion, ethnicity, nationalism, creating an external enemy etc. works to keep that power it will be exploited. In reality most people just want to live their life's in peace and to them such matters are not overly important.

 

[jamahir]

It's a complete misunderstanding to believe that no Assyrians or Kurds were part of the Saddam regime.

it is worth remembering that the kurd and hero, salahuddin, was also a hero of saddam.