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American Morning

Saddam: U.S. Attack 'Doomed'

Aired August 08, 2002 - 07:02   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: "Up Front" this morning, Iraq's president responds to the possibility of an attack by the U.S. In a taped Victory Day speech shown today on Iraqi TV, Saddam Hussein did not specifically name the U.S. or Great Britain, but referred to them as the "forces of evil." And he said an attack on Iraq would be "doomed to failure."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. SADDAM HUSSEIN, IRAQ (through translator): One of the lessons of recent and distant history is that all empires and bearers of the coffin of evil, whenever they mobilize their evil against an Arab nation or against the Muslim world, they were themselves buried in their own coffin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: CNN's Rym Brahimi is in Baghdad with more on this speech and the reaction to it.

Good morning -- Rym.

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, yes, Paula, this is actually the first time that President Saddam Hussein directly addresses the U.S. threat. He hasn't done that so far since the U.S. has been coming up with these threats toward the end of last year. So that's why you have this tough rhetoric.

He actually told -- he actually said in his speech that he hasn't replied so far, but he was replying now, because he didn't want anyone to think that his ignoring these threats were a sign of weakness.

So this is why you've got this usual defiant tone, all this talk of the U.S. being "forces of evil" and "darkness." And that they would be defeated, using some almost prophetic language to say that they would be -- they would actually be doomed to failure, and that they would actually end up in hell, in essence.

Now, that's been backed, at least in Baghdad, in the past few days by shows of force, military parades. There was one the other day by members of the ruling Ba'ath party. This morning, there was one with volunteers from what's called, We are the Jerusalem Army. About 10,000 people marching, armed, chanting slogans. One of them was, "Bush, Bush, miss him well (ph), we all love Saddam Hussein," saying they would defend their ruler and their country to the death if need be.

Now, today, Paula, also marks -- it's a day of celebration here in Iraq, because it marks the end of the Iran-Iraq War, so there's a bit of an irony or a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of fate in a way that Iraqis are today celebrating the end of one war and preparing the beginning of another.

I'd also like to point out, Paula, in his speech, you see, there was all this talk of defiant rhetoric that we have seen many times, but he took it one step further. He took it -- there was something different in the sense that we may -- I think there was something, an appeal, a call to dialogue in a way. He actually said, well, if this is the way that the U.S. thinks they are going to solve their problems and bring about peace and security for their people, well, they are wrong. There is another way, and that way is through dialogue -- Paula.

ZAHN: Rym Brahimi, thanks for that report.

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