Defiance Marks Gulf War Anniversary
Speaking on the 10th anniversary of the first Gulf War bombs to hit Iraq, President Saddam Hussein vowed that Iraq will emerge victorious in its struggle against the United States.
The Iraqi leader says the war that erupted on January 17, 1991, was a confrontation between good and evil that continues to this day.
"Iraq has triumphed over the enemies of the (Arab) nation and over its enemies," said Saddam, adding that Iraq "will triumph in all the remaining rounds with the help of God because it has achieved its triumph inside its soul, its conscience, its heart and its mind."
CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey reports the 25-minute-long speech, broadcast within Iraq and on a number of Arab satellite channels, was intended to impress the entire Arab world.
"On a day like this day 10 years ago, evil and all those who made Satan their protector lined up in one place, facing those who represented the will to defend right against falsehood and who had God as their protector," said Saddam.
"The missiles and bombs of aggression hit everything material and suitable as target for their weapons. Much dear blood of the dear ones was shed," he said.
The speech marking the anniversary of Operation Desert Storm's bombs on Iraq came on the same day as the confirmation hearings for the new Bush Administration nominee for Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, Saddam's Gulf War nemesis.
The Iraqi leader reviled as evildoers the western powers in the Gulf War coalition, led by the United States, that drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
But he made a point of not uttering either the name of Kuwait or those of the Arab countries that took part in the war that impoverished a once-prosperous Iraq.
"How can I give names (of Arab coalition members) and count? How can I say and open the wounds?" said Saddam.
Saddam did, however, mention the continuing bloodshed in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, praising the "glorious men and women who have volunteered for Palestine and its crown, Al-Quds, to be free and liberated from the filth of Zionism."
Earlier in the day, American peace activists had joined hundreds of Iraqi and Arab demonstrators at a rally to mark the occasion outside the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.
The event began shortly after midnight, around the same time a U.S.-led coalition launched Operation Desert Storm to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait a decade ago.
Hours later, church bells tolled as mosque loudspeakers started broadcasting prayers in memory of the thousands of Iraqis killed in the war.
At the rally, Iraqis and Arabs burned the American and British flags amid chants of "down, down U.S.A., down, down British crown." The crowd hoisted pictures of Saddam and Iraqi, Lebanese and Palestinian flags.
Former U.S. Attorney-General Ramsey Clark, a long-time opponent of sanctions against Iraq, was at the rally, along with other Americans from the organization he founded, the International Action Center, which opposes U.N. sanctions against Iraq.
The American protestors carried signs reading "Road to peace, U.S. out of the Middle East."
Clark argues that the war was tantamount to a "genocide and has to be remembered and has to be prevented to happen again."
Michel Wolff, a 36-year-old truck driver from San Diego, told Reuters: "We have been to hospitals and schools and saw first-hand the misery caused by the sanctions."
Wolff said he understood the anti-American feelings in the crowd but hoped that Iraqis would distinguish between the American government and the American people.
"I don't blame them. After what the U.S. government has done to them, teir feelings are normal," he said.
On the eve of the anniversary, a senior Iraqi official said Baghdad was willing to reciprocate any positive move towards it by the new U.S. administration.
Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, who represented Iraq in failed last-minute negotiations to avert the war, also warned that Baghdad would fight back if the United States resumed what he called its anti-Iraq policy under President-elect George W. Bush, whose father was the U.S. president during the Gulf War.
Aziz, speaking at a news conference on Tuesday night, defended Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, which triggered the war that Iraq trumpeted as the "Mother of all Battles."
"When the criminals (in Kuwait) who attacked Iraq regret their crimes against Iraq, we will consider whether we made any mistakes," said a defiant Aziz.
Aziz nonetheless seemed to distance himself from a call by Saddam's eldest son Uday to include Kuwait in a new map of Iraq.
"Iraq was the victim of a conspiracy against its sovereignty, national interest and Kuwait was part and parcel of the conspiracy. So Kuwait deserves what it got in 1990," said Aziz.
© MMI Viacom Internet Services Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Reuters Limited and the Associated Press contributed to this report
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. The Iraqi leader says the war that erupted on January 17, 1991, was a confrontation between good and evil that continues to this day.
"Iraq has triumphed over the enemies of the (Arab) nation and over its enemies," said Saddam, adding that Iraq "will triumph in all the remaining rounds with the help of God because it has achieved its triumph inside its soul, its conscience, its heart and its mind."
CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey reports the 25-minute-long speech, broadcast within Iraq and on a number of Arab satellite channels, was intended to impress the entire Arab world.
"On a day like this day 10 years ago, evil and all those who made Satan their protector lined up in one place, facing those who represented the will to defend right against falsehood and who had God as their protector," said Saddam.
"The missiles and bombs of aggression hit everything material and suitable as target for their weapons. Much dear blood of the dear ones was shed," he said.
The speech marking the anniversary of Operation Desert Storm's bombs on Iraq came on the same day as the confirmation hearings for the new Bush Administration nominee for Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, Saddam's Gulf War nemesis.
The Iraqi leader reviled as evildoers the western powers in the Gulf War coalition, led by the United States, that drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
But he made a point of not uttering either the name of Kuwait or those of the Arab countries that took part in the war that impoverished a once-prosperous Iraq.
"How can I give names (of Arab coalition members) and count? How can I say and open the wounds?" said Saddam.
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Earlier in the day, American peace activists had joined hundreds of Iraqi and Arab demonstrators at a rally to mark the occasion outside the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.
The event began shortly after midnight, around the same time a U.S.-led coalition launched Operation Desert Storm to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait a decade ago.
Hours later, church bells tolled as mosque loudspeakers started broadcasting prayers in memory of the thousands of Iraqis killed in the war.
At the rally, Iraqis and Arabs burned the American and British flags amid chants of "down, down U.S.A., down, down British crown." The crowd hoisted pictures of Saddam and Iraqi, Lebanese and Palestinian flags.
Former U.S. Attorney-General Ramsey Clark, a long-time opponent of sanctions against Iraq, was at the rally, along with other Americans from the organization he founded, the International Action Center, which opposes U.N. sanctions against Iraq.
The American protestors carried signs reading "Road to peace, U.S. out of the Middle East."
Clark argues that the war was tantamount to a "genocide and has to be remembered and has to be prevented to happen again."
Michel Wolff, a 36-year-old truck driver from San Diego, told Reuters: "We have been to hospitals and schools and saw first-hand the misery caused by the sanctions."
Wolff said he understood the anti-American feelings in the crowd but hoped that Iraqis would distinguish between the American government and the American people.
"I don't blame them. After what the U.S. government has done to them, teir feelings are normal," he said.
On the eve of the anniversary, a senior Iraqi official said Baghdad was willing to reciprocate any positive move towards it by the new U.S. administration.
Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, who represented Iraq in failed last-minute negotiations to avert the war, also warned that Baghdad would fight back if the United States resumed what he called its anti-Iraq policy under President-elect George W. Bush, whose father was the U.S. president during the Gulf War.
Aziz, speaking at a news conference on Tuesday night, defended Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, which triggered the war that Iraq trumpeted as the "Mother of all Battles."
"When the criminals (in Kuwait) who attacked Iraq regret their crimes against Iraq, we will consider whether we made any mistakes," said a defiant Aziz.
Aziz nonetheless seemed to distance himself from a call by Saddam's eldest son Uday to include Kuwait in a new map of Iraq.
"Iraq was the victim of a conspiracy against its sovereignty, national interest and Kuwait was part and parcel of the conspiracy. So Kuwait deserves what it got in 1990," said Aziz.
© MMI Viacom Internet Services Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Reuters Limited and the Associated Press contributed to this report
