Ragad Hussein, the eldest daughter of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, blamed the US for the chaos in Iraq, but expressed hope that the newly elected US President Donald Trump will lead a different policy than his predecessors, because he has a "high level of political sensibility".
"What is obvious is that he has a high level of political sensibility, which is significantly different from that of his predecessors. He has pointed out the mistakes of others, especially when it comes to Iraq, which means that he is very aware of the mistakes made in Iraq and what happened to my father," Ragad Hussein told CNN.
Trump, during the election campaign, said he opposed the war in Iraq, but publicly supported the invasion in interviews given before and after the war.
Although he said that Saddam Hussein was a "bad guy", he praised his "effective killings" of terrorists, the American media recalls.
In her first interview since her father's death 10 years ago, Ragad says she has never seen the video of his murder and "refuses to watch it."
"The details of his death are ugly and painful, but it is an honorable death," she said in a telephone conversation with CNN from Amman, where she found refuge after the Iraqi invasion in 2003.
Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq from 1979 until he was overthrown and captured by a US-led coalition in 2003, was hanged in December 2006.
Shortly after his death, then-US President George W. Bush, who ordered the invasion of Iraq, said that the execution of the Iraqi leader "would not have been possible without the determination of the Iraqi people to develop a society in which the rule of law will prevail."
However, the era of "sectarianism and settlements" continued for the next ten years in Iraq.
In response to accusations by the Iraqi government that she supports her father's now-illegal party, the Arab Socialist Baath Party, whose ideology is based on Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, the daughter of the former Iraqi leader says she is not involved in politics and does not support any group or party on the ground. .
He vehemently denies Baghdad's accusations that it supports the Islamic State and that it is rooting for its members to keep Mosul.
"Of course I have nothing to do with that group, or any extremist groups. Our family's ideology has nothing in common with extremist groups. The proof is that these groups became powerful in Iraq after we left the country and after our rule in it finished," said Ragad Husein.
She praised her father for the stability she says he brought to Iraq.
The Islamic State and other groups, she claims, would not be able to enter Iraq if he were alive.
He describes his father as "a hero, a brave person, a nationalist and a symbol of millions of people".
"He was a fighter and he knew his end would not be easy," Ragad said.
Most of what the media says about her father, she claims, is made up.
"Yes, there was brutality, sometimes a lot, and I can't support brutality, but Iraq is a country that is difficult to govern and only now do people realize that," said Ragad Husein.
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