BAGHDAD, July 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - In a new audiotape aired by Al-Arabiya TV channel Tuesday, July 29, ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein paid tribute to his two sons Uday and Qusay who were recently killed by U.S. forces.

"We thank Allah for honoring us with their martyrdom…Beloved Iraqis, your sons and brothers -- Uday, Qusay and Qusay's son Mustafa -- practiced an act of faith in the arena of jihad in Mosul, after a valiant battle with the enemy lasting a full six hours," said the voice said to be of the ousted Iraqi president.

"I bring you the glad tidings, the honorable news, which is the wish of every sincere citizen struggling for the sake of Allah," he said.

The voice warned that "the youth of our nation (Arab world) and Iraq (will follow) Uday, Qusay and Mustafa in the arena of jihad."

"The armies of aggression equipped with all kinds of weapons of land forces could not reach them until aircraft were used (to bomb) the house in which they were present.

"Once more I tell our faithful people and our glorious (Arab) nation that (we) sacrifice lives and money for the sake of Allah, Iraq and our nation ... If Saddam Hussein had 100 sons other than Uday and Qusay, Saddam Hussein would have offered them on the same path (of martyrdom)," said the speaker.

"I sacrifice my sons, fortune and myself for the sake of Allah Almighty…May Allah bless the youth of Iraq…Allah is Greater and the Paradise is for the martyrs.

"Long live our nation and long live Palestine and down with the Zionism and the two liars (Bush and Blair) and their agents," the voice concluded.

The voice gave the date of the recording as July 2003, without specifying the day.

It was the fifth tape attributed to Saddam since his overthrow by U.S.-led forces on April 9 but the first to mention the killing of Uday and Qusay, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Most of the previous tapes aired on Arab TV stations were deemed authentic by U.S. intelligence.

Commenting on the tape, Talat Mosslam, an Egyptian political expert, told the Dubai-based satellite channel that Saddam spoke with a religious tone.

He recalled that Saddam started adopting the religious discourse after his defeat in the 1991 Gulf war, asserting that adding the two words Allah Akbar (Allah is Greater) to the Iraqi flag after the war was a case in point.

"He still thinks that he is not in the U.S. reach and reigns in the Iraqi resistance, although the U.S. is tightening the noose around him," said the expert.

He added that the U.S. has failed so far to round up al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar.

Mosslam further said that Saddam tried to link his two sons with the mounting Iraqi resistance in Iraq and stir up patriotism within the hearts of the Iraqis.

For his part, Sobhi Khandour, a Washington-based expert in Iraqi affairs, said Saddam has nothing to lose and really represents a political crisis for the U.S. which failed to find weapons of mass destruction in the war-scarred country, the main pretext for the invasion.

"He said nothing…It is the same as ever," Khandour said. "He is to blame for the deaths of his sons as he was for the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq."

Khandour stressed that "had it not been for Saddam's policy, Iraq would not have been occupied."