Abu Dhabi, July 12: Iraq's wartime information minister mohammed As-Sahhaf surfaced in the United Arab Emirates, indicating he was here to stay together with his family. "Each time I leave (Iraq), I feel I may not return, but I pray god to be able to go back to Baghdad," Sahhaf told a reporter for Abu Dhabi television yesterday aboard a plane flying him to the UAE capital.
"All (Arab countries) are our homeland, but a person always hopes to return to his memories and native country," he said.
Asked what his family's feelings at leaving were, Sahhaf said: "Like mine. Hope, and joy to be going to a secure, stable and prosperous place. At the same time, there are the memories, the places where one has spent his life."
"So it's a mixture ... What greatly alleviates (the pain of leaving) is that we are coming to our second homeland, the UAE."
The satellite channel aired footage of Sahhaf and family members leaving their Baghdad home and of the flight to Abu Dhabi, where they landed Thursday night, promising to air extensive interviews with the former information minister at a later date.
Bureau Report