In a televised address to the Iraqi people, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein warned that any nation that attacks Iraq will “die in disgraceful failure.”
Speaking on the 14th anniversary of Iraq’s eight-year war with Iran, Saddam said his country won that war and will defeat “the forces of evil” if attacked again. Although he mentioned no specific country by name, Saddam has used that phrase after airstrikes by U.S. and British forces patrolling no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq.
Saddam made no direct mention of U.S. and British demands for Iraq to readmit the U.N. weapons inspectors it ousted in 1998. U.N. inspectors were ordered in after the 1991 Gulf War to guard against Iraq pursuing a program for weapons of mass destruction.
Saddam says U.N. sanctions should be lifted because Iraq has met requirements to eliminate weapons of mass destruction.
The Bush administration has made clear its desire to oust Saddam, whom they call a threat to U.S. interests and his own people. But the United States has devised no clear plan to achieve such an objective, and the White House has said other options are being weighed.