President
Saddam Hussein's Address on the 7th Anniversary of Mother of All
Battles
In
the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
"Be sure we shall test you With something of fear
And hunger, some loss In goods or lives or the fruits But give
glad tidings to those Who patiently persevere."
"The Cow" Sura 155, The Glorious Koran
Our great people,
Valiant members of our brave armed forces,
Our glorious Arab Nation,
Good people and friends everywhere,
Peace be with you
When our master Abraham, peace be upon him, the father of
prophets, and the grand grandfather of our prophet Mohammed,
peace be upon him, decided to leave Iraq, where he was born and
lived together with his family, to roam other part of the Arab
Homeland at the order of God, to preach his call for monotheism
and faith which he had originally started in Iraq, In the name of
the Compassionate, the Merciful, "And Abraham: behold, he said
to his people, 'serve God and fear Him: What will be best for you-
if you understand!", he had nothing other than a stick in his hand
at that time to confront the surprises of the road and to face up
to the ill-intentioned who were opposed to his call. He had only
a stick to scare away a wolf or a dog that tried to harm him.
Thus was the case with Prophets, Messengers, and great reformers
throughout eternity, since God created the Universe and its
inhabitants and suggested the significance of monotheism and
faith in the relationship between the Creator and the creature
between the zeal that is generated by the soul along the drive in
the vast land of God and in the creation of the new life and its
prerequisites to confront the aspects of nature, wild creatures
and the factors of elevating them and man to that which can
maintain progress uninterrupted on a sound basis.
This is what we have learnt and known since we were pupils.
This is what we have grown up to believe in our consciousness so
much so that it has constituted, together with all the sublime
meanings and the implications of well-seated faith, the basis of
the background of our thinking and the core of the ingredients of
our Ba'thist ideology in terms of the outlook to the creation of
the new life and the confrontation of the challenges that
obstruct the course of justice. This is the background of today
which is burning with capability and influence in the Iraqis'
mind and thinking or rather in the back of all Arabs' mind and
conscience, each according to his faith, consciousness, and of
faith that forms his psychological structure. Relying on such
faith, we have confronted and resisted the terms of submission
set by the despot of the last years of the twentieth century, and
his call on Iraq to surrender under his oppression and arrogance.
This despot imagined this could be achieved by the mere show of
the brute force at his disposal after he had based his
conclusions on concepts that are detrimental to a conscience and
mode of thinking which are out-moded in terms of comparison based
on materialistic consderations. This materialistic perspective
blurs the ability of officials in that state which acts
tyrannically in terms of brute force and deviation of justice to
conjure up the backdrop of the thinking and attitudes and above
all, the historical, spiritual and cultural formation of great
Iraq, of our greater glorious Arab Nation and the legacy of the
glorious 17-30 July Revolution.
One aspect of this is the fact that God has made the enemies
underestimate Iraq and the Arab Nation and made Iraq see his
enemies numbered although they are too many. It is His will.
In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
" And remember when you
met, He showed them to you as few in your eyes, and He made you
appear as contemptible in their eyes: that God might accomplish a
matter already enacted. For to God do all questions go back (for
decision). The Glorious Koran
Thus, there was the Iraqi rejection of the terms of
submission and surrender, roaring across the horizons. The banner
of Allah Akbar (God is the Greatest) is hoisted high at its mast.
The showdown started at its two ends, with a stick we were waving
or striking at any of the dogs of aggression, some with nuclear
teeth, who approached our fortress.
So in appreciation of the meanings of our position, the great
stance of the brave Iraqi army and people and recollection of all
the meanings of martyrdom at the battlefield, we make this
recollection so is the case with generations in the Arab Homeland
and Iraq which will later make their recollections of these
meanings, and will never forget them . They in fact live with so
that momentum and action would be higher and greater whenever
they are faced with injustice and a tyrant, tyranny and a despot,
so that faith would remain unshaken in the bosoms and the
consciences would remain capable of feeling the places, courses
and aims of justice as opposed to injustice.
God is the Greatest.
Great people.
Valiant members of the armed forces.
Sons of our glorious Arab Nation.
Friends around the world.
Today is January 17 when, seven years ago at 2.30 early
morning , the devil implicated America and others who were also
involved (in the aggression) after their feet went astray from
the true path of God. It was the day when 28 armies led by the
American tyranny acting on behalf of more than 30 states that had
allied themselves for aggression, unleashed the shells of malice,
hatred, evil and whim at Baghdad, the city of virtue, great
history, glory, and of distinctive mark in attitude, and
characteristics in the entire Arab Nation of glory and virtue. It
was God who chose for the entire Arab Nation and Iraq roles and
messages in appreciation of the characteristics of Iraq to which
it is the capital . It is a role to serve tortured humanity
throughout ages against despots of successive eras and the
ruthless devils on their way to hell.
Since the bombs and rockets of evil hit Baghdad and Iraq in
its entirety, that day became a dawn of additional glory in the
history of Baghdad, the capital of AL-Rasheed, AL-Mansour and the
great Ba'th and throughout Iraq of jihad too from north to south.
The dawn increased in magnificence and light when honourable
Iraqi men and women held out, hoisting the great of banner of
jihad, the banner of Allah Akbar (God in the Greatest) high over
the corps of jihad and honour.
Eversince, that day has become another stain of shame and
disgrace in the face of those who wanted it to be a day of shame
for them. As time elapsed, and with the adherence of Iraqis to
their principles, American officials have become witness to their
shame and perfidy. Whenever they stood before the mirror, they
found their faces covered with disgusting leprosy, not of a
curable temporary type. It is the leprosy of mischief, designed
to achieve a false objective. Leprosy has spread to other parts
of the body as obstinacy, malice and the desire to hurt the
heroic people of Iraq and the sincere army of the nation
increased the verdict of God which has appeared on all parts of
the body. Whenever a wind blew, it revealed the weakness of those
who chose to insist on the same attitude, refusing to rectify it.
In the forefront of the line of the despaired and the deceitful,
stands America of the ominous evil against the peoples and
nations of this age.
Brothers,
On this day, January 17, the world was preoccupied by the wedding
ceremony of America, to be crowned at a place they termed a peak
after so many stars had nose-dived and after America was able to
tear apart the banners of its arch rivals who were not letting it
ascend to or infiltrate into whatever it sought to reach.
While the American official was poised there to announce he had
become the unrivaled and unopposed King of the World and that all
must kneel obediently to him without having the right to reject
his crowning or to oppose any stance by Washington, and while
false witnesses and slaves were about to place on him the
absolute crown on which the names of most world states were
inscribed save two or three who tacitly grumbled with discontent,
albeit with a faint voice and shaken rejection, and, when the
tyrant viewed with contempt everything, a breeze carrying the
scent of prophets who were born in dignified Iraq and who bore
the meanings of message and the great revelation blew on
dignified Iraq to reinforce faith in the chests of the men and
women of Baghdad. They recalled the memory of our master Abraham.
In the Name of God the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful: " Ye, Fire be
cool and save Abraham," "The Glorious Koran" he had only a
stick in addition to his call, which he had, at the request of
God to take to the land of the Pharaoh and its people. It was a
call for monotheism, a true faith, not fearing the discrepancies
in material capabilities.
They remembered too the stick of Moses, peace be upon him, which
God turned into an evidence in the face of the Pharaoh of that
age.They remembered the stick of Jesus, peace be upon him, which
he never raised against anybody. They remembered that who made
the pledge and took the stance of the great Jihad, Mohammed Bin
Abdullah, peace be upon him. They remembered how he faced up to
the tyrants and despots of his time, how the armies of Moslems
destroyed the edifices of these empires to establish justice
after they had routed all forms of injustice.
The people of Iraq recalled all that when the two parties
were face to face at the two ends of the battlefield. They
mistakenly believed they could force Iraq to say "yes"
with others to crown the evil American official as the unrivaled
King of the four directions. Then, the hearts of those who were
frightened gaped up their throats. In the name of God, the Most
Compassionate, the Most Merciful: " Behold! they came on you from
above you and from below you, and behold, the eyes became dim and
the hearts gaped up the throats, and Ye imagined various (vain)
thoughts about God." "The Glorious Koran" Here in Baghdad
and in the battlefield, across Iraq, the fervor of faith and
steadfastness intensified fearless of the confrontation of the
despot.
All Iraqis said it in one voice: " No". With this
Iraqi and Arab "No" the shells of evil roared. Their
warships and frigates flocked ( into the area ) bringing in
ominous snakes and ravens, their warplanes and missiles to hit
every living thing and everything essential to life. The roar of
the Iraqi and Arab "No" was louder, God willing, than
all their weapons. The crown of the unrivaled King which they
thought impregnable then rolled down as the echo (of the "No"
) swept across all parts of earth, after this crown had slipped
from the hand of the helpless, there at the coronation stand. It
was smeared with their shame and the kingdom remained God's alone.
In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful: " Blessed be He
in whose hands is Dominion, and He over all things hath power." "The Glorious Koran"
The guests who were forced to attend the fallacious coronation
then walked away. It was a coronation with a testimony made by
false or forced or blindly docile signatures because it is God's
will that despotism should not prevail in the world. He has never
allowed this to happen throughout ages.
As the crown rolled, the chair of the king began to shake with
every passing day, taking stances of arrogance and evil against
Baghdad. Meanwhile, the attitude and the banner of Allah Akbar (
God is the Greatest) has become visible in the remotest parts of
the world, winning admiration, respect and love on the largest
scale after God has blessed it with firmness, virtue and faith.
Dear brothers,
From the essence of these meanings, basic aspects and the
reasons for the 30-state aggression against Iraq could be
understood. The essence of these meanings underlines why and how
Iraq said " No " , stood firm, resisted and emerged
victorious. Among these meanings is the message Iraq sent on the
People's Day, November 11, 1997. It was the day in which previous
days culminated to reveal to the whole world all that America
tried to conceal, to uncover a considerable part of the
disinformation process which America, its media and lackeys
pursued before the representatives of states or before the people
who remained astray from the truth or might have looked like this.
Hail, the People's Day, its vanguards and the great people who
brought it about with patience, forbearance and challenge.
God is the greatest.
Arab brothers,
In our speech of last July 1997 and in the series of
statements made by the leadership and senior officials in Iraq,
there were successive calls on the importance of an Arab
solidarity on the governmental level, which we believe inevitable
for fulfilling the requirements of development and of countering
foreign ambitions and hostility. Our noble call has been well-received
by some Arabs (and appeared in their statements) who have a fair
amount of knowledge about Iraq and its leadership. Yet, few of
them still have a suspicion that our call has been originated
from a feeling of weakness, fear and concern about the future of
Iraq alone. To remove the veil which has blinkered their eyes we
would like to say to them that our noble and responsible call was
never mentioned so successively and clearly in the years 1991,
1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995 as the Leadership did not want to
announce it then lest it should confuse some officials, Arab or
foreign, as to its causes and effects. But now that nearly seven
years have passed since the beginning of the aggression in which
every well-known means, capabilities and weapons were used on the
battlefield, it has become apparent that all these means have
failed to discredit Iraq' s principled attitude or to damage its
true patriotism and strict commitment to pan-Arabism. We have
assumed, and perhaps rightly so, that there will be no more ill-judgment
that may deceive the majority of the nation's rulers and their
loyal subjects into believing that Iraq' s call to the nation to
join forces on the path that safeguards its strength, dignity,
power and wealth, could be interpreted in a way that might empty
the call of its original and responsible content and hinder its
progress for discharging its role with honour and responsibility.
Should our call were a tactic for crossing a certain phase, it
would have been better to be addressed to America and Zionism as
some frustrated inferiors do. Our call, however, was aimed at the
nation at a time when Iraq was fighting, with power and faith,
America and its lackey the Zionists whenever there was a new
aggression against Iraq. Such an attitude by Iraq is almost
unique. It was the same, thirty years ago, when Iraq appealed to
the nation and the circumstances at that time were congenial and
the conditions surrounding it did not permit of any equivocation
or ambiguity. It was on this account that our call was construed
by prudent men who bear no malice, prejudice or covet of revenge
in their bosoms and souls.
The motive which prompted our call, together with the calls
made by our comrades in the Leadership, for a united stance that
could further augment the nations 's spiritual and temporal
existence, has always been a concern over the entire Arab nation,
its interests and riches, as has it a concern over the events
taking place in practically every individual country. It was by
no means a concern over Iraq alone. Iraq is protected by God. It
is in trustworthy and powerful hands and in hearts full of faith
and courage. It resides in the eyeballs of the revolutionaries
who never have faint hearts or faltering courage.
Harm might be done to Iraq , and blood might be shed on its land
in larger or smaller amount than before , and cases of martyrdom
increase among those who will be bitten by the snakes of perfidy
and embargo, and the roll of the wheel of development might
suffer to some extent and to a certain degree but, Iraq, as a
land and as an embodiment of pan-Arab civilized, humanitarian and
historical roll will remain. What Iraq is losing as a result of
the aggression and sanctions will be recompensed from the
momentum it gains from steadfastness and resistance as well as
from the spiritual lessons and meanings inherited in the history
of humanity. This could prove more eloquent for expressing the
firmness of human faith and nationalism and may surpass all
others.
What concerns us, Arab brothers, is not what causes harm to our
people or to the entire members of the greater Arab nation in
more than a place or in more than an Arab country including Iraq.
The most serious matter that should take precedence over all
others is the fate of the greater Arab nation and the suspension
of its role to take advantage of the opportunity available for it
to keep pace with historical development and to assume its
national and human role. This is particularly true for certain
societies in the Nation which might not be able to catch another
opportunity for development once they lose their historic
opportunity of petrol and human resources and lose faith in the
capability of their members to develop and defend the nation they
belong to.
For these very reasons, we underline again the importance of
overcoming, by all of us, the obstacles which stand in our way
and which have bled the hearts before the feet. We have to forget
our past sorrows now that we have learnt lesson from them. We
have to work all, with mutual agreement, for building a better
future for the nation after we solidify our present and reinforce
it with a faithful creative power which pleases God and the
people.
In this speech, which is a recollection of the connotations and
lessons of the historic confrontation at the glorious Mother of
all Battles, whose major phase of fight started on January 17,
1991, we find ourselves faced with the duty of telling the
officials in America a wisdom which we have deduced from that
unforgettable battle. Its moral point can be summarized as
follows: It is quite possible that one makes an error of judgment
when he examines his power prior to its application, and it is
also quite probable that he makes the same mistake as regards his
enemy's power. As a result, he gives his power one mark higher
than what he deserves or what God, the Almighty and All-powerful
may permit and gives his enemy's power one mark lower than what
he deserves or his firm faith may suggest. But he is considered
slow on the uptake if he repeats the same mistake with an enemy
who has been put to the test and has countered all powers and
potentialities used against it.
It is necessary for America not to delude itself into believing
that it can do harm to Iraq in a way that enables it to achieve
the goals bequeathed to it by the ancestors other than causing
pain to our people and this will be recompensed by God, the
Almighty and All-powerful, who will put the Iraqis in their
proper place and reward martyrs in his heaven for their sublime
sacrifice.
But God, the Most High, is digging pits on the path of the
Americans. These pits, covered and dark, may get deeper with the
passing of the time when their nervousness and disappointment
increase. The Americans will retreat and depart, day after day,
from the peak which they think they have reached when they dared
to attack the glorious city of Baghdad with their bombs and
missiles but the city, nevertheless, has proved to be impregnable
to foreign aggression. They should, therefore, re-examine and
reconsider what they are doing so that the unjust sanctions
imposed on Iraq come to an end. They should also not be misled
again or mislead themselves into believing that they can achieve
by military aggression what they were unable to achieve by their
means of malice, deception and trickery. This is because they
have already tested it on several occasions and have thought
after or before it that deceit, political deception by means of
imposing sanctions and plotting in the dark could lead to their
desired aims. The Americans must realize, and this should not be
construed as a threat, that as we fought against them and endured
their aggression over the past eight years, we have come to know
their force and their power for causing harm, in the same manner
as we presume they have known the power of the great Iraq and
God's protection of it.
Hence, we do not want to fall into the trap of
miscalculation into which they have fallen and to vie with them
their slow understanding. We only want to attract attention to it
and not to embarrass our enemy. Embarrassment is not our aim or
goal. All we want to say is that Iraq, as people, leadership and
representative bodies at all levels and with different
designations are determined, without the slightest retreat, to
fight a grand jihad for lifting the sanctions. If the Security
Council does not take a decision in fulfillment of its
obligations towards Iraq as stipulated in the unjust resolutions
which it took alone and without the participation of Iraq as
reciprocal commitments, then Iraq has resolved to take a decision
consistent with the recommendations of people's representatives
at the National Assembly and shall assume full responsibility for
it since there is no other alternative course of action. We are
firmly convinced that the people of the Arab nation will judge
the matter favourably not only in understanding Iraq's situation
but also in giving support to its efforts in all fields and at
all forums, so that the slogan "lifting the unjust sanctions
" will ultimately win and achieve its purpose in breaking
open a main gate of conspiracy. We hope and expect that our
friends in the world will understand us and everyone, from his
own position, will do something to curb evil and support truth.
To the peoples of the Third World countries, to their officials
and to all countries which share balanced view as regards their
relations and interests with this world, we say that America has
revealed its true nature as a tyrannical power, selfish and blind
which sees nothing but its narrow interests even if their
realization of such interest might lead to impoverishing,
undermining and destroying these countries and societies after
plunging them into a series of crises, wars and disasters.
It is a new disgusting imperialism with all its schemes and
policies. It has worn the garb of the people of hell which has a
surface appearance of brightness but is actually concealing claws
of torture of predatory animals which prey on nothing save human
flesh.
Against this background and now that every nation of the world
has painful stories, some of them are tragic, of an infringement
on its sovereignty, security and vital interests, nothing can
save the world but a cooperative and human nationalism in every
country of the world especially in Third World countries and
forms of solidarity and economic and political cooperation at
both popular, official and other levels to contain America's
evils and its flames which have spread all over and are
threatening the world with all kinds of fire.
We know that this description about America is an expression of
what is deep in the hearts and consciences of the whole world,
but we also know that not everyone who has this conviction is
capable of revealing what is kept in his heart, conscience and
mind. We are, therefore, all invited to work together in one
direction albeit every individual country of the world has its
own course of action in expressing its national attitude at all
forums, particularly at international and regional ones and at
all opportunities when such are made available for the national
will to act in a fair and objective manner.
Let us all remember America's economic conspiracies and its
financial dealings which it used against the peoples of Latin
America and south-east Asia and even Japan in the last stage
despite the fact that most of these countries are its friends
until very recently or partners in terms of labour and economic
cooperation.
Let them also remember and never forget that America's continuous
military aggression and economic sanctions against Iraq are but
one manifestation of its selfish and narrow-minded outlook which
includes, among others, taking possession of oil and national
resources of the countries of the region so that its slogan of
controlling the entire world becomes possible.
On this understanding, the struggle of the people of Iraq now
is a humane struggle for ridding the world of its disasters in
the same manner as Iraq is ridding its people of a disaster. A
solidarity by the countries of the world with Iraq for preventing
an aggression against it and for lifting the sanctions on it,
therefore, a national act and a duty which must be discharged
without delay or hesitation. Indeed, a national struggle at this
stage which meets with others at common goals for resisting this
wild ghoul as an urgent human struggle and a duty to be done by
all for the sake of living in a world where no tyrant, oppressor
or unjust exploiter can be the sole power, and a world which is
both cooperating and secure, capable of seizing its legitimate
opportunities without foreign dominion or hegemony.
God is the greatest
Glory be to martyrs of Arab nation and of Iraq at the
glorious Um Al-Marik battle
Glory be to the nation's martyrs wherever they are
Long live our glorious Arab nation
Long live Iraq
Long live Palestine, a free Arab country
God is the greatest
God is the greatest
Evil be to him who evil thinks.