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Saddam Hussein Says Iraq's Military Will Defeat Any U.S. Attack
Aired January 06, 2003 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Harsh words and high praise today from Saddam Hussein. In a televised Army Day speech, he says Iraq's military will defeat any U.S. attack. He also renewed old charges against UN weapons inspectors.
Our Rym Brahimi is in Baghdad with the latest, and she joins us now.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, indeed. This was a speech marking the 82nd anniversary of Iraq's armed forces. It was quite a long speech, John, and there were a lot of quotations from the Koran at the beginning, but then the Iraqi president addressed the current crisis, making several points. One of them, as you mentioned, accusing the UN weapons inspectors of spying, saying that in the way they were going about their work, they were not clearly into disarming Iraq.
Let's listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. SADDAM HUSSEIN, IRAQ (through translator): Instead of looking for the so-called weapons of mass destruction in order to expose the distortion and lies propagated by those who endeavor in vain to deceive public opinion, the inspection teams are interested in collecting names and making lists of Iraqi scientists, addressing employees with questions that carry hidden agendas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, he also accused the United States of carrying hidden agendas. He referred throughout the entire speech to the United States as "the enemy," saying that the U.S. was trying to dominate Iraq, not only just for Iraq's domination and Iraq's resources, but also to try and control the entire region, setting up telecommunications and transport from the Red Sea to the Gulf, saying that this was not only to secure the United States' interest, but also to protect the security of Israel.
And on the other point he made, John, he said that the U.S. was trying to do this also to divert American and international public opinion from a lot of resentment that may have come from the September 11 attacks, saying that the U.S. had failed its people with the economy, it had failed in Afghanistan, and also that it had reaped a lot of hatred and anger throughout the world for its policies in the Middle East, clearly trying to cater a lot of support there from not only the international public opinion, but more specifically from the other Arab countries.
And then finally in what seemed to be a response, John, to a lot of speculation there's been abroad (ph) over what the Iraqi army would actually do if there were a U.S.-led attack. Well, the Iraqi president said he was confident that the army would stand firm and protect the nation -- John.
VAUSE: Rym, obviously some tough words there from Saddam Hussein regarding the inspections. How much influence will that have on them, and what are they up to today?
BRAHIMI: Well, the inspectors are going out and about as always. I'm not sure it would have much influence to be honest. This is really more a speech addressing people, addressing the Arab people, addressing a lot of Muslims in the region, and the world actually. It's really not going to affect the inspectors' work that much.
Now today, they just went about their business as usual. They went to two sites that were known to previous UN inspectors; nothing really new there, just going about their business.
But what's interesting, John, is the discrepancy, if you will, between the rhetoric and what's happening on the ground. What we see on the ground when we follow the inspections is a lot of keenness on the part of the Iraqis to cooperate, or at least be seen as cooperating. The Iraqis, of course, say that they're cooperating, and they have been keen, according to what we hear from diplomats as well, John, to make sure that they will not be providing any pretext for the United States to attack.
So, there's on the one hand the very violent (ph) rhetoric, if you will, and on the other hand, the actions that seem to be slightly different -- John.
OK, CNN's Rym Brahimi reporting for us there live from Baghdad -- thank you, Rym.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Attack>
Aired January 6, 2003 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Harsh words and high praise today from Saddam Hussein. In a televised Army Day speech, he says Iraq's military will defeat any U.S. attack. He also renewed old charges against UN weapons inspectors.
Our Rym Brahimi is in Baghdad with the latest, and she joins us now.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, indeed. This was a speech marking the 82nd anniversary of Iraq's armed forces. It was quite a long speech, John, and there were a lot of quotations from the Koran at the beginning, but then the Iraqi president addressed the current crisis, making several points. One of them, as you mentioned, accusing the UN weapons inspectors of spying, saying that in the way they were going about their work, they were not clearly into disarming Iraq.
Let's listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. SADDAM HUSSEIN, IRAQ (through translator): Instead of looking for the so-called weapons of mass destruction in order to expose the distortion and lies propagated by those who endeavor in vain to deceive public opinion, the inspection teams are interested in collecting names and making lists of Iraqi scientists, addressing employees with questions that carry hidden agendas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now, he also accused the United States of carrying hidden agendas. He referred throughout the entire speech to the United States as "the enemy," saying that the U.S. was trying to dominate Iraq, not only just for Iraq's domination and Iraq's resources, but also to try and control the entire region, setting up telecommunications and transport from the Red Sea to the Gulf, saying that this was not only to secure the United States' interest, but also to protect the security of Israel.
And on the other point he made, John, he said that the U.S. was trying to do this also to divert American and international public opinion from a lot of resentment that may have come from the September 11 attacks, saying that the U.S. had failed its people with the economy, it had failed in Afghanistan, and also that it had reaped a lot of hatred and anger throughout the world for its policies in the Middle East, clearly trying to cater a lot of support there from not only the international public opinion, but more specifically from the other Arab countries.
And then finally in what seemed to be a response, John, to a lot of speculation there's been abroad (ph) over what the Iraqi army would actually do if there were a U.S.-led attack. Well, the Iraqi president said he was confident that the army would stand firm and protect the nation -- John.
VAUSE: Rym, obviously some tough words there from Saddam Hussein regarding the inspections. How much influence will that have on them, and what are they up to today?
BRAHIMI: Well, the inspectors are going out and about as always. I'm not sure it would have much influence to be honest. This is really more a speech addressing people, addressing the Arab people, addressing a lot of Muslims in the region, and the world actually. It's really not going to affect the inspectors' work that much.
Now today, they just went about their business as usual. They went to two sites that were known to previous UN inspectors; nothing really new there, just going about their business.
But what's interesting, John, is the discrepancy, if you will, between the rhetoric and what's happening on the ground. What we see on the ground when we follow the inspections is a lot of keenness on the part of the Iraqis to cooperate, or at least be seen as cooperating. The Iraqis, of course, say that they're cooperating, and they have been keen, according to what we hear from diplomats as well, John, to make sure that they will not be providing any pretext for the United States to attack.
So, there's on the one hand the very violent (ph) rhetoric, if you will, and on the other hand, the actions that seem to be slightly different -- John.
OK, CNN's Rym Brahimi reporting for us there live from Baghdad -- thank you, Rym.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Attack>
