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CNN Live At Daybreak
Iraqis President Saddam Hussein Speaks, Remains Defiant
Aired January 17, 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: At 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein spoke to his nation to mark the 12th anniversary of the Persian Gulf War. No mention from the Iraqi president of the mother of all battles like he did 12 years ago. Still, he does remain defiant and says Iraq will defeat any invaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. SADDAM HUSSEIN, IRAQ (through translator): Everyone who tries to climb over its wall, be it an aggressor, an insolent, a wicked, a perfidious, and an oppressor will fail in his attempt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: As you might imagine, in Baghdad, the talk is all about Saddam's speech and those empty warheads found by inspectors.
We want to go live now to Baghdad for the story at this hour. Our Rym Brahimi joins us live from there.
Saddam made no mention of those empty chemical warheads in his speech, did he?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, Carol, in fact, no mention at all of even the inspection process, as he had in his previous speech on January the 6th. That said that this is a speech marking the 12th anniversary of the 1991 Gulf War, an anniversary that Iraq marks as a victory. Iraq says it won over the U.S.-led coalition of more than 30 nations. It says its victory was military, political and moral. That also was repeated in President Saddam Hussein's speech again today.
Now, the president also called on his people to stand firm, to make sure -- to make clear that they will pledge their allegiance and stand by him, called on his military as well to be prepared to fight whatever happens, to fight whatever battle may be thrown at them.
He also referred to the U.S. threats. He sort of compared the U.S. threats, in fact, to threats by a historical figure that in the 13th century had actually destroy Baghdad, saying this time around, Baghdad would not bow down.
Let's listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUSSEIN (through translator): To the Zionist Jews and to the Zionists who are not of Jewish origin, particularly those who are in the U.S. administration and who stood in opposite front (ph) of our nation of Iraq. The force in America proved itself to be incapable of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), educating itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Referring to the U.S. administration very clearly, unlike previous speeches where he usually just refers to it as the enemy. Also referring to the belief there is among many Iraqis and a lot of the Iraqi leadership that the U.S. is only trying to attack Iraq in order to secure not only its own interests, but also those of Israel. And then finally again calling on the people to make very clear where they will stand, that they will stand by him. In short, Carol, saying he will not step down -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I want to ask you, Rym, too, about those chemical warheads. Iraq is still saying that it simply forgot they were there.
BRAHIMI: Well, that's right. Iraq is saying these boxes were old sealed boxes that had probably been forgotten about. Iraq says also that it's a type of artillery rocket that Iraq had mentioned back in 1996 in a previous declaration to U.N. weapons inspectors, but also in its recent declaration of December the 7th.
Now, the United Nations weapons inspectors are still checking on that. They're sort of reserving their judgment for now. They say it's still not necessarily the smoking gun, but they say they're also checking to see whether Iraq did mention that or not in their declaration that they submitted to the U.N. Security Council last month -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
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 17, 2003 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: At 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time this morning, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein spoke to his nation to mark the 12th anniversary of the Persian Gulf War. No mention from the Iraqi president of the mother of all battles like he did 12 years ago. Still, he does remain defiant and says Iraq will defeat any invaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. SADDAM HUSSEIN, IRAQ (through translator): Everyone who tries to climb over its wall, be it an aggressor, an insolent, a wicked, a perfidious, and an oppressor will fail in his attempt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: As you might imagine, in Baghdad, the talk is all about Saddam's speech and those empty warheads found by inspectors.
We want to go live now to Baghdad for the story at this hour. Our Rym Brahimi joins us live from there.
Saddam made no mention of those empty chemical warheads in his speech, did he?
RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, Carol, in fact, no mention at all of even the inspection process, as he had in his previous speech on January the 6th. That said that this is a speech marking the 12th anniversary of the 1991 Gulf War, an anniversary that Iraq marks as a victory. Iraq says it won over the U.S.-led coalition of more than 30 nations. It says its victory was military, political and moral. That also was repeated in President Saddam Hussein's speech again today.
Now, the president also called on his people to stand firm, to make sure -- to make clear that they will pledge their allegiance and stand by him, called on his military as well to be prepared to fight whatever happens, to fight whatever battle may be thrown at them.
He also referred to the U.S. threats. He sort of compared the U.S. threats, in fact, to threats by a historical figure that in the 13th century had actually destroy Baghdad, saying this time around, Baghdad would not bow down.
Let's listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUSSEIN (through translator): To the Zionist Jews and to the Zionists who are not of Jewish origin, particularly those who are in the U.S. administration and who stood in opposite front (ph) of our nation of Iraq. The force in America proved itself to be incapable of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), educating itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAHIMI: Referring to the U.S. administration very clearly, unlike previous speeches where he usually just refers to it as the enemy. Also referring to the belief there is among many Iraqis and a lot of the Iraqi leadership that the U.S. is only trying to attack Iraq in order to secure not only its own interests, but also those of Israel. And then finally again calling on the people to make very clear where they will stand, that they will stand by him. In short, Carol, saying he will not step down -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I want to ask you, Rym, too, about those chemical warheads. Iraq is still saying that it simply forgot they were there.
BRAHIMI: Well, that's right. Iraq is saying these boxes were old sealed boxes that had probably been forgotten about. Iraq says also that it's a type of artillery rocket that Iraq had mentioned back in 1996 in a previous declaration to U.N. weapons inspectors, but also in its recent declaration of December the 7th.
Now, the United Nations weapons inspectors are still checking on that. They're sort of reserving their judgment for now. They say it's still not necessarily the smoking gun, but they say they're also checking to see whether Iraq did mention that or not in their declaration that they submitted to the U.N. Security Council last month -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Rym Brahimi reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
