Saddam speaks

last updated 8 January 2015

Baghdad

A taped message purportedly from Saddam Hussein aired on an Arab television station this week, calling for jihad against “the U.S.-Zionist-British aggression.” The speaker said the American and British claims of weapons of mass destruction were simply “a cover for their crime of implanting Zionism in the Arab world.” He urged Iraqis to assassinate members of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council, and called for the return of the Baath Party in Iraq and the destruction of Israel. President Bush dismissed the tape as “the same old stuff.” U.S. forces, meanwhile, launched a massive air attack on central Iraq, where Saddam’s Baathist supporters are believed to be concentrated.