A decade after Saddam Hussein’s execution, his eldest daughter Raghad has reminisced about the moments before her father was taken to the gallows.
“The details of his death are ugly and painful–but it’s an honourable death,” she told CNN.
Speaking to the media for the first time, Raghad blamed the United States for the chaos in her country. Had her father lived, she said, the so-called Islamic State and other militant groups would not have been allowed to unleash a reign of terror in Iraq.
The 48-year-old praised US president-elect Donald Trump for his political acumen. “This man has just arrived to the leadership… But from what is apparent, this man has a high level of political sensibility, that is vastly different than the one who preceded him,” she told CNN.
In an Ohio speech, Trump had criticised America’s Iraq policy and termed the Middle Eastern country the Harvard of terrorism. During his presidential campaign, Trump had opposed the Iraq war despite supporting it earlier.
PHOTO: AFP
Raghad appreciated the US president-elect’s insight on Iraq and the mistakes made after the invasion in 2003. She also addressed rumours of supporting her father’s Baath party, IS or any other militant group back in her homeland.
Raghad said much of what the media said about her family was untrue. “Yes, there was brutality, sometimes a lot of it and I can’t support brutality. But Iraq is a country that is difficult to rule and it’s only now that people are realising it,” she said.
