British diplomats secretly discussed the idea of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussen undergoing a back operation in Britain 30 years ago, official files released on Thursday showed.
When the notion was floated in 1975, Saddam was considered a key figure in the Arab world worth courting and not the international pariah he later became.
The ousted president is now on trial in Baghdad on charges of crimes against humanity. He risks the death penalty if convicted.
The once-secret papers given to Britain’s National Archives after being held for 30 years showed that officials thought the prospects of successfully treating Saddam in Britain for a bad back were ”most encouraging”.
Foreign Office diplomats noted comments by Finland’s ambassador to Iraq that there was a 90% chance the operation needed by Saddam would leave him permanently lame.
Officials asked medical advisers to then prime minister Harold Wilson’s government whether the operation could be successfully performed in Britain.
Terry Clark, a senior figure in the Foreign Office’s Middle East department, reported the outcome to John Graham, Britain’s then ambassador to Iraq, in a letter dated January 10, 1975.
”I am advised that, if Saddam is suffering from a broken disc pinching the sciatic nerve, there is an operation, by name a laminectomy, regularly and successfully undertaken in various hospitals in the UK, by which there is a very good chance of total recovery,” Clark wrote.
”If the operation fails doctors usually advise a further operation, a spinal fusion. If the latter fails too, it usually means that there has been an erroneous diagnosis in the first place.
”This is all most encouraging and, while I am by no means suggesting that we offer Saddam advice on the availability of such treatment in the UK, you may find the information useful should you ever receive an approach from the Iraqis.”
The file does not record whether such an approach was ever made.
Government departments are required to transfer documents to the National Archives at Kew, southwest London, after 30 years.
However, under a new freedom of information law, the public may apply for such files to be released earlier. – Sapa-AFP