LONDON (AFP) Saddam Husseins former deputy, Tareq Aziz, on Friday accused the US president of leaving Iraq to the wolves by pressing ahead with a withdrawal of combat troops despite a recent upsurge in violence. In an interview with Britains Guardian newspaper, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister said the US should stay in the country to correct the mistakes it had made since the 2003 invasion. We are all victims of America and Britain, he told the daily newspaper from his prison cell in Baghdad, in his first interview since he was captured shortly after the fall of Baghdad more than seven years ago. They killed our country in many ways. When you make a mistake you need to correct a mistake, not leave Iraq to its death. Aziz, the face of ex-Iraqi president Sad-dam Husseins regime on the world stage for many years, went on to say Iraq was now in a worse state than before the US-led invasion. For 30 years Saddam built Iraq and now it is destroyed. There are more sick than before, more hungry, said Aziz. The people dont have services. People are being killed every day in the tens, if not hundreds. I was encouraged when [US President Barack Obama] was elected president, because I thought he was going to correct some of the mistakes of Bush. But Obama is a hypocrite. He is leaving Iraq to the wolves. Aziz also launched a staunch defence of Saddam Hussein, insisting the Wests view of him was wrong. Saddam did not lie, he said. He did not change the facts. He is someone for whom I have a great respect and love. He is a man who history will show served his country. Saddam built the country and served the people. I cannot accept your [the Wests] judgment that he was wrong. Aziz, 73, turned himself in to US forces in April 2003 and is one of Saddams few surviving top aides.