Iraqis told to ‘fight with your hands’

WITH US ground forces closing in fast, Saddam Hussein last night exhorted the Iraqi people to “fight them with your hands,” according to a statement on Iraqi satellite television.

The statement, addressed to the people of the region south-east of Baghdad, was read by Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf. Saddam hasn’t delivered a speech on TV since March 24, and it is unclear when that address was recorded.

“Fight them with your hands, God will disgrace them. God is great,” said the minister.

Sahhaf disputed the coalition claims of battle successes. “All this is to cover their disappointment and inability,” he said.

“They are like a snake moving in the desert. They have no foothold in Iraq ... they do not even control Umm Qasr,” he said, referring to the southern port city held by British forces.

Sahhaf said Republican Guard forces battled coalition troops in the area south of Kut and “taught them lessons, a catastrophe”, inflicting heavy casualties and forcing a coalition retreat. “We buried a lot of them today,” he said.

He also claimed Iraqi forces had killed scores of coalition troops on Wednesday at Basra in the south.

“We’re now trying to exhaust them, making them more tired until our leadership decides the time and method to clean our territory of their desecration,” Sahhaf said.

The US military claimed only three Marines wounded in the fighting at Kut and said its forces were advancing into the outskirts of Baghdad unhindered by the Republican Guard.

Meanwhile, the air assault on Baghdad continued. The site of Baghdad’s old airport was struck overnight by coalition aircraft bombs.

The target appeared to be a row of tin shelters which stretch for about a mile where the trade ministry stores hundreds of imported cars.

Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed Mehdi Saleh accused coalition forces of breaking into Iraqi warehouses and stealing children’s milk and supplies.

When asked where Saddam is and why he has not been seen on television, Saleh laughed.

“I think you have seen his picture,” Saleh said, referring to the silent footage that aired on Wednesday of a smiling Saddam chairing a cabinet meeting.

“He is very calm and confident,” he added.