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Hussein Calls U.N. Weapons Inspectors Spies
Aired January 06, 2003 - 10:01 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN, Saddam Hussein addressing his nation and delivering a message to the world. It's a televised speech marking his country's Army Day.
The Iraqi leader vowed that his military will staunchly defend against any U.S.-led invasion, and accused U.N. inspectors of gathering intelligence in preparation of such an attack.
Let's get the latest now from Baghdad, where CNN's Rym Brahimi is standing by.
Rym, hello.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. Well, indeed, though the occasion was the celebration of Iraq's army, or rather Iraq's armed forces.
It's the 82nd anniversary of their foundation and there was a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a ceremony attended by President Saddam Hussein's top aide. It was also attended by the Iraqi cabinet members, as well as the top high-ranking members of the Baath ruling party.
Now later on, there was a speech, an address, by President Saddam Hussein to the nation, in which he accused the U.N. weapons inspectors of being spies. Of not only looking for weapons of mass destruction but in fact of being there working a way to gather intelligence.
He said they weren't, in the questions that they were putting to Iraqi scientists, for instance, they were not there to look for weapons or information regarding weapons but only to try and gather intelligence for eventually the U.S. or for anyone who would want to attack Iraq.
Now, the other points he made referring to the current crisis in the region were that the U.S. was trying to -- was trying to threaten Iraq not only to dominate Iraq and its resources but actually also to dominate the entire region.
Here's how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADDAM HUSSEIN, PRESIDENT OF IRAQ: (voice of translator) Iraq is not only the target in this confusion. Even if the noise is meant to intimidate us and to cover the aggression to be decided by the enemy, whenever the devil so instructs him. The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is rather perceptive. The Arab Gulf area to full, complete and physical occupation, through which to achieve many goals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now those goals, President Saddam Hussein said, were not only to secure the U.S.'s interests in the region but also to protect the security of Israel. He also said that the U.S. was doing that in order to divert public opinion in the U.S. and internationally from the U.S. administration's many failures.
He cited, in his view, the failure by the U.S. administration of preventing the September 11 attacks. He said the U.S. had also failed the American people with regard to the economy, saying that the U.S. economy was near collapse. And also saying that the U.S. had failed in Afghanistan.
Now, another interesting point he made, Daryn, was he may have seemed to want to respond in a way to all these speculations about Iraq's army. A lot of questions have been coming out about what Iraq's army would actually do if they were in attack against Iran (ph).
Well, President Saddam Hussein said that he was confident that his army would just stand by and protect the nation -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, thank you so much.
And while Rym was delivering us that report, we're getting word out of the White House that the White House is denouncing Saddam Hussein for calling the U.N. inspectors spies. We'll get more on that after his briefing with reporters has concluded.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 6, 2003 - 10:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN, Saddam Hussein addressing his nation and delivering a message to the world. It's a televised speech marking his country's Army Day.
The Iraqi leader vowed that his military will staunchly defend against any U.S.-led invasion, and accused U.N. inspectors of gathering intelligence in preparation of such an attack.
Let's get the latest now from Baghdad, where CNN's Rym Brahimi is standing by.
Rym, hello.
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn. Well, indeed, though the occasion was the celebration of Iraq's army, or rather Iraq's armed forces.
It's the 82nd anniversary of their foundation and there was a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a ceremony attended by President Saddam Hussein's top aide. It was also attended by the Iraqi cabinet members, as well as the top high-ranking members of the Baath ruling party.
Now later on, there was a speech, an address, by President Saddam Hussein to the nation, in which he accused the U.N. weapons inspectors of being spies. Of not only looking for weapons of mass destruction but in fact of being there working a way to gather intelligence.
He said they weren't, in the questions that they were putting to Iraqi scientists, for instance, they were not there to look for weapons or information regarding weapons but only to try and gather intelligence for eventually the U.S. or for anyone who would want to attack Iraq.
Now, the other points he made referring to the current crisis in the region were that the U.S. was trying to -- was trying to threaten Iraq not only to dominate Iraq and its resources but actually also to dominate the entire region.
Here's how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADDAM HUSSEIN, PRESIDENT OF IRAQ: (voice of translator) Iraq is not only the target in this confusion. Even if the noise is meant to intimidate us and to cover the aggression to be decided by the enemy, whenever the devil so instructs him. The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is rather perceptive. The Arab Gulf area to full, complete and physical occupation, through which to achieve many goals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Now those goals, President Saddam Hussein said, were not only to secure the U.S.'s interests in the region but also to protect the security of Israel. He also said that the U.S. was doing that in order to divert public opinion in the U.S. and internationally from the U.S. administration's many failures.
He cited, in his view, the failure by the U.S. administration of preventing the September 11 attacks. He said the U.S. had also failed the American people with regard to the economy, saying that the U.S. economy was near collapse. And also saying that the U.S. had failed in Afghanistan.
Now, another interesting point he made, Daryn, was he may have seemed to want to respond in a way to all these speculations about Iraq's army. A lot of questions have been coming out about what Iraq's army would actually do if they were in attack against Iran (ph).
Well, President Saddam Hussein said that he was confident that his army would just stand by and protect the nation -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Rym Brahimi in Baghdad, thank you so much.
And while Rym was delivering us that report, we're getting word out of the White House that the White House is denouncing Saddam Hussein for calling the U.N. inspectors spies. We'll get more on that after his briefing with reporters has concluded.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
