Saddam Defiant On War's Anniversary

A defiant Saddam Hussein called on his people Friday to rise up and defend the nation against a new U.S.-led attack and promised that Iraq's enemies would face "suicide" at the gates of his capital.

The 40-minute televised address, delivered on the 12th anniversary of the Gulf War, revealed no sign that Saddam was prepared to bow to demands of the United Nations nor step down, as has been suggested by Arab leaders as a way to avoid war.

"The people of Baghdad have resolved to compel the Mongols of this age to commit suicide on its walls," Saddam said, referring to the United States. "Everyone who tries to climb over its walls … will fail in his attempt."

Repeated references to Baghdad, rather than Iraq, appeared to be a sign that Saddam plans to rally his troops around the capital for a decisive battle aimed at inflicting as many casualties as possible on U.S. forces, if President Bush decides on a military attack to force Iraqi disarmament.

Analysts said that Saddam's ploy, while looking desperate, could work.

"If he manages to keep the loyalty of the troops and the party and rally the inhabitants of Baghdad, it could be a different ballgame altogether," said Maher Othman, an editor of the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat.

On Jan. 17, 1991, a U.S.-led coalition launched devastating air attacks against Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, opening Operation Desert Storm, which drove Iraqi invaders out of Kuwait.

The anniversary did not hinder U.N. weapons inspectors, who pressed on with their task to determine if Iraq has disarmed as it maintains.

Although Iraq denies it possesses such arms, and did not list any weapons programs in a Dec. 8 weapons declaration, the United States and Britain are massing troops in the region for a possible attack.

Chief inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei have said Iraq's declaration is incomplete and fails to support its claims to have destroyed banned weapons. Blix and ElBaradei will travel to Baghdad for talks Sunday and Monday in which they will warn Iraq to provide more information or face war.

"It is above all for Iraq to demonstrate that everything has been done away with," ElBaradei said Thursday.

Inspectors visited military industry sites in the Faluga area west of Baghdad, and a farm near Juwesma, southwest of the capital on Friday.

On Thursday, inspectors found what they said were 11 warheads designed to carry chemical weapons that hadn't been disclosed to international authorities. Iraq insisted the rockets were old and had been declared already.

It was not immediately clear if discovery constituted a "material breach" of U.N. resolutions.

While the artillery rockets are evidence of a one-time Iraqi weapons program, they may not amount to a "smoking gun" unless some sort of chemical agent is also detected, said U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Former U.N. weapons inspector Stephen Black told CBS News Anchor Dan Rather that the discovery was of limited significance.

Black, who is a CBS consultant on Iraq, also said it is possible these warheads were omitted from the declaration by mistake, as the Iraqis claim.

Iraq produced thousands of these warheads two decades ago, and it is unclear whether those found Thursday are leftovers from that era, possibly forgotten, or newly manufactured. Iraq maintains they are old.

Blix, in Paris for a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, said Friday he was unsure if the warheads were listed in the 12,000-page declaration.

Also Thursday, inspectors broke new ground by interviewing two scientists at their homes. One of the men, a physicist, left with the inspectors for additional questioning, carrying documents.

The U.N. has asked to interview at least two more scientists at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, but those scientists refused — agreeing only to be questioned at a neutral location and with an Iraqi official present.

The inspectors are due to report next on Jan. 27; U.S. officials fear waiting delaying that report until the spring would push any war into the hot months of the Iraqi calendar.

Blix says the inspectors need more time, and French President Jacques Chirac Thursday threw his weight behind that request, reports CBS News Correspondent Elaine Cobbe.

"It is only wise to agree to this request," Chirac said. "Give them more time to work to bring about a more detailed response."

Chirac also reiterated his warning that unilateral action against Iraq would contravene international law, and said France could never accept that.