Foreign Correspondence

[Ace Hanlon]

Saddam warns US will target all Arabs


Gulf Times







AMMAN, 16 May, 2005 - Ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussain was quoted yesterday by one of his defence team members as warning that US aggression will target all Arab states.

In a recent meeting with the member of the Amman-based defence panel, Iraqi lawyer Khalil Duleimi, Saddam also rebuked the Arab League and its Secretary General Amr Moussa for failure to muster pan-Arab support for the Iraqi resistance, Duleimi told the daily Alarab Alyawm.

“The American aggression will target all Arabs and the agenda of the US interests in the Middle East is overwhelming and will not spare even friends,” Duleimi quoted the former Iraqi leader as saying.

In his criticism of the Arab League, Saddam said, “The Arabs should remember that Iraq is fighting on their behalf and the Iraqi front represents the first defence line in this great battle”, according to Duleimi.

“The Arabs should extend all support they can to the Iraqi resistance because, by doing so, they are defending themselves and their own countries,” the deposed Iraqi president added.

Saddam also warned, “if the Iraqi front falters the flood will sweep away all Arabs,” citing what is happening in Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Sudan as examples.

“Saddam has renewed confidence in the defence panel”, which includes prominent Arab and non-Arab lawyers, Duleimi said.

The toppled Iraqi leader was arrested at a hideout near his hometown Tikrit in December 2003. He appeared in public the first time before the special court set up for his trial on July 1 last year. He then refused to respond to the charges in the absence of his lawyers.

The newly elected Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told a Jordanian newspaper last week that a “public trial” would be held shortly for Saddam and his top aides. – DPA