Saddam: Step up resistance

2003-11-16 19:45

Baghdad - An audio tape purportedly made by Saddam Hussein told Iraqis on Sunday to step up their resistance to the US-led occupation, saying the United States and its allies misjudged the difficulty of occupying Iraq.

The speaker, who sounded like the ousted Iraqi leader, told Iraqis that the "road of jihad (holy war) and resistance" is the only one to make the "armies of the unjust occupation leave our country."

He also criticised Iraqis who are co-operating with coalition forces, calling them "stray dogs that walk alongside the caravan" and who lack even the "minimum political weight" to "walk in the streets of Baghdad or any other Iraqi city."

"We tell them that Iraq has a special 'chemical mix' that can only be deciphered by the believers among the sons of Iraq," he said.

The tape was broadcast on the Arabic language television station Al-Arabiya which is widely seen in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.

The voice appeared husky and the speaker seemed tired. During the broadcast, the speaker used Saddam's old rhetorical styles, including indirect references to President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair as "liars" and calling the White House the "Black House."

He began by greeting the Iraqi people on the occasion of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and said the "evil ones will not be able to occupy and colonise Iraq."

"They thought and made others think that they were going on a picnic to occupy Iraq and destroy their weapons of mass destruction," the voice said, denying that Iraq had any such arms.

Evil intentions

"Iraq will rebel against their evil intentions to colonise it and to wield influence in it," he said. "The evil ones now find themselves in a crisis and this is God's will for them."

He added that, "the aggressors have no choice but to leave our nation" and called on "mujahedeen," or holy warriors, to strike coalition forces "even harder."

"The path of resistance is the path of choice to God and the people," he said.

The speaker made an apparent reference to the US plan to speed the transfer of political power to Iraqis, which was announced here Saturday.

The speaker said that attacking "agents brought by foreign armies" takes precedence over attacking coalition armies themselves - a clear call to target Iraqis who work for the US-led coalition or government ministries.

Referring to coalition forces, the voice said they would "only reap disappointment with more and more American lives lost."

"The land and fire of glorious Iraq that God has blessed with jihad because of valour in resistance... will swallow hundreds of thousands of troops that ... will never achieve their plans."

- SAPA