Saddam's translator emerges from obscurity

seattlepi: A familiar face is a rarity in Iraq's newly installed political leadership, but at least one participant in the recent constitutional debates was recognizable to television viewers throughout the country.

Sadoun al-Zubaydi, once Saddam Hussein's official translator and a fixture on TV screens during the strongman's frequent meetings with foreign dignitaries, has emerged from self-imposed obscurity following the dictator's fall, disproving rumors he had been executed, fled the country or had joined the U.S. occupation authority.

Nearly two and a half years after the U.S.-led invasion, the articulate and urbane diplomat - considered one of Iraq's leading foreign policy analysts - now advises Sunni negotiators in talks over Iraq's new constitution.

Although his current work as a Sunni legislator brings him into contact with U.S. diplomats in Baghdad, he remains implacably opposed to the Bush administration's policy in Iraq and the Middle East.

"We're under occupation of a great power that cares not a bit about Iraq but only about its own interests," he said. "Nobody in Iraq believes the ideological hubris that America is trying to do good here." Read more