بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

THE 81^ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT

OF THE VALIANT ARMY OF IRAQ

ON JANUARY 6, 1921

JANUARY 6, 2002

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Great People,

Brothers, men of sublime values and loyal stand, men

of our valiant armed forces,

Arabs, sons of our glorious nation,

Another year has passed to be added to the credit of your army, the proud, faithful and striving army of Iraq, which is now standing its glorious test. It is the army of the nation of faith, virtue, zeal, chivalry and divine messages, the army of the Arabs, the army of Al-Qadissya and the Grand Battle, the Mother of all Battles, the army of the national and Pan-Arab faithful tasks, and the army of Palestine.

Another year is opening its pages for those whom we are talking about, those who are supported by the vast credit of values, sacrifices and preparedness to achieve everything that promotes the nation and the people, and protects land and honour, dignity of the homeland, conscience of history and good repute of men and women.

This is the vow of these men, and it is the vow of all of us. It is the call of history and the aspiration of the future generations for whatever honours and does not shame them before themselves and before the Almighty and Omnipotent Allah in the first place.

It is the vow for which our righteous martyrs and the heroes of the Arab nation everywhere have sacrificed themselves, marching on its path with steadfastness, unshaken by any wind, even it were a fierce icy gale. On the path of this vow there is no place for a sense of loneliness which may enter the soul and play the game of the devil with it to confuse the hearts and minds and shake, in them, the solidity of faith and the firmness of stand by whatever is right and the readiness to combat whatever is wrong until one of the two fair rewards is won: victory or martyrdom. Victory means the victory in life decreed by Allah for the believers, and martyrdom means the martyrdom of those who live with their Lord and are provided by Him. It is the victory which honours the living, gladdens the souls of the martyrs and is blessed by the Merciful, the Compassionate Allah. The obstacles facing the march will be nothing but lessons that deepen faith and determination, increase resolution, and, with these, enlarge horizons for optimism and confidence in success.

In the light of what has been said and what it signifies, the vow is made to the new Christian year and to the Sixth Day of January in it, as it was made in the past Islamic and Christian years, by the army of July, by the people of this army and its leadership. The army of July vows that it will be united in one state, one spirit and one destiny with the people, the principles of the nation, the fragrance of history and the legitimate aspirations for the future. In this unified state, the army will not compete with the people or with the ardent sons of the nation or with the armies of the Arabs except for what is higher in values, firmer in stand, deeper in connection and loftier in prestige.

It is a new year and a new additional vow, made before the people and before the nation. It is a vow of renewed resolution rising in capability and significance, a genuine chivalrous stand of faith, severed neither from the vow of the starting point nor from the great hopes growing out of the march, the performance and the trust before the people. It is an honest chivalrous stand, faithful in its ardour, trusting in the One and Only in its ascent towards glory, virtue, right and justice. It fills with anger the hearts of those whose protector is the Devil, and fills with joy the hearts of the believers and the heart of every honest person who keeps a vow and fulfils a promise. It makes the martyrs glad.

Blessed be the martyrs!

Brothers, Arabs, Friends,

Whenever an occasion makes it necessary that I speak about the Iraqis or about the army, whose attributes I have summed up in this and in other speeches, I feel embarrassed. It is not because I cannot say or write what should be said or written about them, but because I fear that I may not recall all that they deserve to be recalled about them and, thus, give them only part of their due in the light of what my soul likes to say about them and what does justice to their history. I am afraid that some narrow-minded people may interpret what I say as merely panegyric of a state which the speaker is part of.

Although I hate hesitation, the feeling of embarrassment in this regard adds conviction to certitude and places those who are just before a historical responsibility to tell the truth and do justice to the truthful. In that case, I find myself facing an embarrassment of another type and a query from another perspective. Is it possible, I wonder that an occasion like this one can contain a serious portion of what should be said under the circumstances of this hateful embargo? Can it contain what should be said, besides, about the sweet patience of the people in a battle which, in the Mother of all Battles alone, has been going on for eleven years? If the pen is capable of writing, and if he who delivers the speech is prepared for it, can all that is known about the struggle and patience of this army be said when we find that its support and depth are the great people of Iraq? I turn to myself again and say: the foundation of whatever is said should be truth and honesty. It is not necessary that we say now, and on this occasion, all that should be said or all that we know, to do justice to this striving and valiant army. In whatever we say, or do not say, on this or on any other occasion, we will content ourselves by saying that our army and our people, united in one state as they are, live in our conscience. They both share in the position of sight in our eyes and permeate through our soul in every action we take and every meditation we make. Nothing is given preference in our soul over them and over our glorious nation but that given to the Great Omnipotent Allah. He, glorified be His Name, is our Protector, and it is He Who has decreed for us the firm stand we, our people and our army take towards what we stand firmly upon.

Brothers,

You all know the fundamentals of the glorious record of the army of July, the army of Al-Qadissiya and the Mother of all Battles. You know how it has never let you down, but rather it has upheld you in action and in stand. Its action has been a genuine part of the significance of your Standard, the Standard of Allahu-Akbar (Allah is the greatest). It has upheld the faithful Arab military after recalling its values. It has ascended to where it should ascend through the high sense of responsibility it has maintained towards the Arab military, towards the nation and towards the homeland.

You well knew how your army was during the past years and throughout the turning points in its history. It was an everlasting record of bravery, chivalry, zeal and striving based upon its great faith, its vow and its manly stand. And as it did in the past, it keeps now its vow before Allah that it will maintain the same spirit and will rise towards what is even better, trusting in Him, glorified be His Name, believing in the role of the people and the nation and their rights. It will remain loyal to the interests of the people, jealous of the sovereignty and dignity of the homeland and truthful to the vow it has made to maintain the aspirations and the rights of the nation, wherever it finds the way to do so, or wherever Allah seizes an opportunity of honour and a role for it to safeguard these aspirations and rights.

And Allah is the greatest!

You have told the invaders and the covetous, in the thick of all battles, that the homeland and the nation are held as a trust by you, the manly men of self-respect, ardent zeal and faith.

Together with you, the people have told them, with the greatest preparedness and conviction, that every Iraqi born to a glorious mother is, after trusting in Allah, a trustworthy and dependable project for the army of the peoand the nation.

And as Iraq is a trust held by you, your nation and its great homeland are also a trust whenever a caller for jihad calls upon you to defend land, honour, sanctities and sanctuaries.

And as your debased enemies failed in the past, so will any aggressor, if he lets himself be seduced into committing an evil act against your trust. He will be shamed by Allah and will be thwarted in his base aims. Then, only the foreheads of your tyrannical enemies will become dark, while the lustrous foreheads will be found wherever you gather together with all the virtuous, self-respecting and striving sons of your nation. This will happen because Allah supports your nation and your people as long as they obey Him, glorified be His Name, and pray to Him to keep faith and faithful chivalry in your hearts and to shame the unbelievers.

A salute to all Muslim mujahideen who have followed the faithful examples of Islam and Arabism. A salute to them wherever they are, giving away soul and substance in sacrifice for the great values of faith and virtue, and facing oppression, falsehood and tyranny to defend right and seek for fairness and justice.

A salute to all the chivalrous heroes of humanity as they face injustice and tyranny. From the leadership and the free, striving and loyal people of Iraq we extend to them the best of regards, love and solidarity.

A salute to the chivalrous heroes of Arabism and faith.

A salute to the sisters of the glorious Iraqi women among the heroic people of Palestine.

A salute to the brave men who are loyal to the vow and promise they have made before Allah, the people and the nation.

A kiss from us on the foreheads of all the elderly people, the young boys and girls and the children who face Zionism and its ally, the US, and who combat aggression with soul and substance in order to uphold truth and crush falsehood.

It is not out of weakness on our part or on the part of the free, striving and loyal people of Iraq to say to them: We are with you, though without having our swords with them, or without advancing one step forward wherever some fall one step behind. But it is the circumstances and the barriers of politics and geography, which you know, that impose this situation, until Allah gives permission to bring about a situation different from this one.

A curse upon everything that is negative in the

circumstances!

May every year bring prosperity to the army of Iraq, which

is the army of faithful Arabism and the army of Palestine!

May every year bring prosperity to all!

Blessed be the martyrs!

Long live our glorious nation!

Long live Palestine, free and Arab from the river to the sea

and from the sea to the river!

May disgrace and curses fall upon Zionism and its damned

and detestable entity and upon its evil allies!

Long live Iraq!

Long live the army of Iraq!

And Allah is the greatest!

Allah is the greatest!