Saddam vows to repel US invasion

A DEFIANT Saddam Hussein yesterday called on his people to rise up and defend the nation against a new US-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 step down or bow to demands of the United Nations, which has sent inspectors to determine if Iraq has given up its weapons of mass destruction.

Meanwhile, the White House said the discovery by inspectors of 12 empty rocket warheads capable of carrying chemical weapons was “troubling and serious”.

But spokesman Ari Fleischer stopped short of calling the weapons a violation of UN resolutions.

The rockets, found on Thursday in southern Iraq, were not listed in Iraq’s weapons declaration, Mr Fleischer said.

When asked if the discovery represented a “smoking gun” proving Saddam has hidden weapons, he said: “The fact that Iraq is in possession of undeclared chemical warheads ... is troubling and serious.”

Iraq claims the warheads are old and were listed in earlier disclosures of the country’s weapons. It was not clear when Saddam recorded the address, but in it he did not mention the warhead discovery.

“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.”

He said the Iraqi nation was fully mobilised against the threat of a new conflict and told President George W Bush to “keep your evil away from the mother of civilisation.”

“The whole nation will rise in defence of its right to live,” Saddam said. “Their (aggressors’) arrows will go astray or backfire, God willing.

“Long live Palestine, free and Arab, from the (Mediterranean) sea to the (Jordan) river,” Saddam said, in an appeal for Arab support.

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

Saddam has depicted the events of 1991 as a victory because Iraq stood up to a superpower and his regime survived invasion and subsequent uprisings.

“The scheming of attackers backfired in that aggression, which they are continuing until the present day,” Saddam said.

Immediately after the speech, several thousand Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad to voice their support for the president.

The anniversary did not hinder UN weapons inspectors, who pressed on with their search for any clandestine programs to develop banned weapons.