Saddam Urges U.N. to Honor Agreements, Warns “Forces of Evil”
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Saddam Hussein
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BAGHDAD, August 8
(IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
called Thursday, August 8, on the United Nations to honor its
commitments to Iraq and to answer its questions, notably on sanctions.
He also warned that a new war will be doomed to failure.
“The right way is that the
Security Council should reply to the questions raised by Iraq and
should honor its obligations under its own resolutions,” he said in
a speech broadcast on television to mark the 14th anniversary of the
end of the Iran-Iraq war, which raged between 1980 and 1988.
In three rounds of
negotiation this year between Iraq and the United Nations, focused on
the resumption of disarmament inspections, Baghdad has submitted a
series of questions, notably on the lifting of the sanctions regime.
He was referring to 19
questions given to Annan at a meeting in March, and to the council
resolutions which say that U.N. sanctions on Iraq can be lifted once
it has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction and fulfilled other
requirements.
Iraq has long said it has
fulfilled these conditions and that the sanctions imposed since its
1990 invasion of Kuwait should be lifted. Annan circulated the 19
questions, which deal with various Iraqi complaints, to the Security
Council members, who have not replied, news agencies reported.
The world body slapped the
embargo on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
“Anyone who attacks Iraq
will die in “disgraceful failure,” he said without making direct
mention of America and Britain by name, but referred to them as
the “forces of evil”.
“The forces of evil will
carry their coffins on their backs to die in disgraceful failure,”
he said.
He also said that any new
U.S. war was doomed to bloody failure, as fears mount that Washington
will unleash military strikes on Iraq.
“All empires and evil
coffin-bearers have been buried with their sick dreams when they have
sought to harm Arab and Muslim nations,” he said.
“This inevitable result
awaits all those who try to attack the Arabs and Muslims,” he added.
“Darkness shall be
defeated,” vowed Saddam.
“The forces of evil will
carry their coffins on their back to die in a disgraceful failure ...
after they dig their own graves on every Arab or Muslim soil which
they attack, including Iraq.”
“But if they wanted peace
and security for themselves and their people, they should respect the
rights and security of others and deal with them peacefully through
equivalent dialogue based on international law and charters.”
The 20-minute militaristic
address recalled the Iraqi “victory” over Iran, which left
hundreds of thousands dead.
Iraq celebrates August 8 as
the day of “victory” in the war that officially ended with a
U.N.-brokered ceasefire on August 20, 1988.
Saddam only mentioned the
United States by name once in reference to the 1991 Gulf War, but
there was no doubt who he was talking about amid constant
war-mongering in Washington.
U.S. President George W. Bush
promised Wednesday to consult U.S. friends and allies as he explores
all options on how to overthrow Saddam.
Bush and top advisers
appeared to take a step back amid an international storm over Iraq,
whipped by reports of intensive U.S. planning for an invasion early
next year.
“I promise you that I will
be patient and deliberate, that we will continue to consult with
Congress and of course we will consult with our friends and allies,”
Bush said.
“I will explore all options
and all tools at my disposal, diplomacy international pressure,
perhaps the military,” he said.
U.S. allies in Europe and the
Gulf have watched with real unease as a flurry of U.S. newspapers have
carried leaks of invasion options suggesting Bush has all but decided
to use military force pre-emptively against Iraq.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld alleged that members of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group
are in Iraq but would not say whether their presence was sanctioned by
the government.
Vice President Dick Cheney
stressed that Bush “has not made a decision at this point to go to
war.
“We’re looking at all of
our options. It would be irresponsible for us not to do that,” he
said.
British Minister for Middle
East Affairs Mike O’Brien said a war could be avoided if Iraq
allowed U.N. inspectors in to check for chemical and biological
weapons.
“It is not imminent, and it
is not inevitable,” he said. “Nobody wants war for the sake of
it.”
German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder warned that an invasion of Iraq would be a mistake.
“It will not be well
understood as a means of defense and could destroy the international
alliance against terrorism,” he told the newspaper Bild.
The European Union reiterated
support for U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan’s work with Iraq and
the need for inspectors to return.
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