SADDAM SPEECH, IRAQ TV
Iraq News, 10 August 1999
By
Laurie Mylroie
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V. SADDAM SPEECH, IRAQ TV
Baghdad Iraq Television Network in Arabic 0704 GMT 8 Aug 99
[Speech by Iraqi President Saddam Husayn on "Great Victory Day"
anniversary marking the end of Iraq-Iran War on 8 August 1988; on 8
August -- recorded]
[FBIS Translated Text] In the name of God the merciful, the
compassionate.
O great people, brave men of our valiant armed forces, sons of our
glorious Arab nation, friends: Just as a person is part of his family
and social circle in his thinking, nature, and customs, any phase in the
development of a people is also a part of their history, nature, and
customs. While nations and peoples have some characteristics in common,
which can be pointed out and summed up; each of them has other special
characteristics, which are different. The type of these characteristics
and the extent of their effect on the people themselves and on others
depends on the type of characteristics enjoyed by each people and
nation, as well as the roles they play and the type and level of
development they have attained since the beginning of the evolution of
mankind; or their description in the present phase. The more different
the description and the wider the distance between one nation and
another, the wider also is the gap between them.
The leaders and the role or tasks they assume play a decisive role in
developing these special characteristics, their level, and efficacy. On
the basis of this description, the level of the humanity or
aggressiveness of nations and peoples, and their susceptibility to this
or that -- that is their good qualities or shortcomings -- are
influenced by the background of those characteristics and their
historical level and type. Thus, we can make use of the explanations
that were given to many historical manifestations and epochs, and even
the basic inclinations in the history of peoples and nations,
including our people and nation.
Therefore, if we go back a little in the past, which is connected in
one way or another with the occasion of this speech, and wonder, for
example: Why was Baghdad destroyed in the year 1258 AD and Babylon in
the year 539 BC without completely destroying the spirit of the human
being in them and making him give up hope and pray to rise anew? Why did
Baghdad's slumber last long in the region of eight centuries; and why
did Baghdad rise once again without bending, stopping, or compromising?
If we answer these questions in detail, based on the special
characteristics of our people and other peoples that harmed our people,
we will find a convincing answer that would represent the essence of the
fair ones' positive assessment of our people's characteristics. It would
also represent the essence of the fair ones' assessment of those who
harmed our people in the past and those who harm our people whenever
they invoke their people's past attitudes toward our people's history or
toward the Great Victory Day, on which we deliver our annual speech,
despite the difference in time between the past and the present. Sumer,
Babylon, Baghdad, Assyria, Ninaveh, al-Hadar, and Or did not live in the
middle between the bottom and the peak. When they eye the peak and when
they are sure of the guides' sincerity and honesty, along with other
known conditions, they make their way to the peak to occupy it and serve
as the highest beacon amid their surroundings, sending out a light that
can be seen from very far away, and providing illumination for and
guiding other peoples that cannot find their way. Other people might be
derived by jealousy, envy, and impotence into a frenzied agitation that
invokes the instinct of aggression and destruction to sit afterward on
the rubble, imagining that it is the highest peak. Others might be
derived by the selfish idea that it is possible for all peoples to move
in one common direction. They see no way for a compromise between a peak
and other levels. In that case, a collision is sure to follow.
Arriving at the peak by hard work and sublime values is a frequent
case in the history of Iraq and the Arab nation; in fact, it is the case
the befits the nation and Iraq. When they reach the peak, they often
remain there until they are seen or heard of by everyone, far and near.
Because of their characteristics, they do not fall down quickly,
contrary to other peoples or nations. This is due to the depth and level
of resolve and wisdom that characterize our nation's leaders and their
true love of the path of construction. Therefore, the only way to remove
them from the peak is through an overwhelming collision that takes them
by surprise at any stage when they close their eyes, get preoccupied
with improper things, or miscalculate.
Based on this too, we can interpret why when Baghdad closes its eyes,
all the Arabs' eyes are closed, and why when it reopens its eyes, the
sword becomes associated with the pen, based on wisdom, with each
functioning as a wing to uplift our great cultural values and our
nation's immortal heritage. By those wings, the great hawks would fly
high, to protect Iraq's skies and land, and so that Baghdad would forge
its way to the peak, equipped with the requirements of building and the
pen, and carrying the sword that defends the sublime values. In both
cases, Iraq would be expressing the genius of the nation and the people
in light of the faithful pan-Arab and immortal human message. Therefore,
Baghdad, expressing its values, sent out beams of light to illuminate
the path throughout the world under the protection of the All Merciful.
Thus, the sword was the carrier of the pen, and the pen was the guide to
construction and faith, building its solid basis and flying its
fluttering banner, as its great intellectual products provided light for
many dark corners in humanity.
They then massed against Baghdad, driven by their malice and envy.
Forces, some of which were backward, were mobilized to be used as a
power of destruction. Some employed their reservoir of cunning and
greed and their narrow interests to show these backward people that
their destructive course was correct.
The Moghuls and the Tatars burned the books of science and knowledge
and murdered the scientists in Baghdad. They also denied the nation its
due opportunities for a very long time. Similarly, some backward people,
driven by their destructive power and their evil intentions, thought
they could murder the scientists and the men of literacy, wisdom, valor,
and patriotism in Baghdad, which was rising to a loftier and better
place. They were disappointed. Damned be their deeds.
Brothers: In what we have said already, and in what we will explain on
this occasion and others as regards these issues or others, we do not
want to recall only the factors that divide us, nor do we want to open
old wounds, some of which are still fresh. But we have endeavored, and
are endeavoring to place facts within their correct religious, social,
and historical framework, and within their scientific context. By doing
so, we can help show the way to what is good as part of our national and
pan-Arab responsibility, on the basis of our faith, and also on the
basis of our human responsibility and human relations, whether with Iran
or with other nations. We proceed with this out of the constant desire
and determination to help and take the initiative to build bridges of
love and peace whenever we have an opportunity to do so, or whenever
a door to such an opportunity is opened in a balanced and correct way.
Accordingly, we say that the ruler, any ruler, who finds that he and
his people have potential energy which he can release, but he does not
possess the ability to understand what is good -- including what is
needed to build and to do good and serve the meanings of good -- in most
cases would release this energy in a direction that runs counter to
good, amity, fairness, or construction. Such an energy will then be
destructive to his relations with other peoples and nations, especially
the neighboring peoples and nations. Therefore, interest in construction
and the lofty values and meanings, and the balanced view toward the
social, economic, cultural, and other areas of life, provide a strong
indication that the ruler and the commander is using this potential
energy in his mind and soul and in the mind and soul of his people and
nation in the human, civilized direction. They also provide a strong
indication of his love for virtue and not evil, and for construction and
not destruction and aggression.
Regrettably, the rulers of Iran, especially those of the past and
some of those who are still following that course, were not interested
with construction and did not seek to plant love or virtue. Therefore,
their slogans after the end of the shah era were arrogant, aggressive,
and expansionist, although they were covered with the slogans of Islamic
call. Hence, the aggression took place and war began.
The established documents of history can also explain how and why the
Elamite Persian King Schuturk-Nachonettihad stole the obelisk on which
the codes of the Iraqi king Hammurabi were inscribed. The Persian king
tried to erase the name of Hammurabi on these codes out of his feelings
of rancor and envy against this great king, and in order to treat the
illness of the mind and soul which this Persian king inherited from his
forefathers.
Thus, after the destruction carried out by this Persian king inside
Iraq, he stole a part of the history and cultural and legal civilization
of Iraq, instead of making a rising civilization. This is because he was
unable to rise, according to his own traits, so he went down, in line
with his traits and inclinations. Why and how did the Persian King
Korosh destroy the city of Babylon after almost six centuries? Babylon
was then considered the first center of human civilization, the most
radiant, and the city that had the most influence on human
civilizations. The Persian king did this in collaboration with the Jews
who were brought in as detainees by King Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon.
King Korosh destroyed Babylon by his destructive instinct and his
greed and grudge. This was not an expression of an enlightened power;
rather, it was an expression of blind and stupid inability. He thought
that by doing this, he was redressing his complex, which is represented
in the weakness or lack of awareness and the lack of the power to rise
by following the right human path. Baghdad shall remain, as it has
always been, impregnable to the enemies; guarded by pride and power that
faithfully preserves human meanings. It will not open its doors except
for peoples that seek a good relationship and friendship and to the
kind-hearted believers, God willing.
Based on this, the peoples that have a deep-rooted cultural role are
different from those who play a modest cultural role. When the human
aspect plays a significant or decisive role in the life, history, and
missions of a certain nation--by adopting a call for good action or in
bearing a certain message--then they are different from the peoples
whose history is confined to a local and selfish, and, often, specific
and narrow, role. The difference has a deep meaning, in terms of
influence. When material elements and considerations have the upper
hand, then we only see examples of destruction, harm to other peoples
and nations, defeating justice, and drowning in injustice.
This happens when these examples are faced with other examples that
remind of love, altruism, a great human role, and working for justice
and right.
Among the factors that shape and determine the direction of rulers
and peoples as well is whether they are self-sufficient and satisfied
with what they have inside their countries so that they will not be
engaged in enmity and aggression, or self-insufficient, especially if
they do not realize how to increase their resources and capacities in a
manner commensurate with the sound human factors and congruous with the
reasons why God created man. Thus, we realized that the foreign
neighboring futile plateaus are often the ground from which those who
fell in the fertile plains come. Some of those who roll to this fertile
plain are armed, evil-minded, and aggressive, whereas some seek decent
living after having gone through a plight. The radiation of the plain of
the twin rivers ascends as a magnificent beam to illuminate the path of
those around it and those far away.
Just like individuals, nations have capacities, feelings, and ways of
thinking. The results are hinged on the direction to which capacities,
feelings, and thinking are geared. Here lies the crucial role and
responsibility of leaders in determining the results which are
contingent on the path and goals. If they unleash their capacities
toward destruction and evil, they will harvest similar results. This is
the way that leads to the abyss although it might be the easiest way to
employ the instinct of destruction and evil when narrow-mindedness
triumphs over far-sightedness and the great values. Failure to observe
the supreme values makes one's capacities descend to the abyss. It is of
particular gravity that those who advocate this approach believe that
they win when their capacities are shattered while rolling to the abyss.
This is because those who advocate this approach are unable to figure
out ascension and upward progress and therefore descend to the abyss, as
I said. However, if they gear these capacities toward the direction of
good and rightfulness, they will reap similar results.
In view of these two different approaches, various peoples could go
along the same line or contradict one another and thus collide.
Inspired by the meanings addressed in the 17 July speech, we can
understand part of the conflict that flared up in the glorious Qadisiyah
after the concerned Iranian officials gave further vent to the feelings
that were unleashed by the rebellion against the shah of Iran among the
Iranian people who, at that time, had not fought a war for a long time.
These people faced all types of humiliation, oppression, and hunger
under that regime. They began to search for another way to assert
themselves. Accordingly, the new Iranian officials pushed or unleashed
them into a wrong, destructive path devoid of the simplest humanitarian
or spiritual values even if these took a flimsy procedural and verbal
spiritual form, as I have said. The regime turned their spirits and
values into targets for its destructive energies and weapons. Great Iraq
repulsed them with great faith and with a balanced concept of life,
work, and responsibility. The Iraqis were certain of victory at the
beginning and the end, as that was a natural result of this type of
conflict. To underscore this on the basis of what each of the two
parties to the conflict deserves, let us cite some examples from a
huge list of examples. One is that Iraq has released all Iranian
prisoners some time after the cessation of fighting, except for one who
was lately released, as I said in my speech on this occasion last year.
We released them guided by the principles in which we believe --
principles deeply rooted in the true Islamic religion and the principles
of the glorious July revolution. The Iranian prisoners were in touch
with the International Red Cross throughout their stay in prison,
enjoying the prisoner's rights. In contrast, Iran continues to hold
thousands of Iraqi prisoners and refuses to register some of them with
the Red Cross. Our heroic prisoners are subjected to all types of
torture, pressure, and often murder in their cells only because they are
patriots who respect their humanness and their nation's principles. They
do not harm or betray their homeland and people. They do not speak ill
of their leaders and principles. Iran's behavior is unparalleled, so we
can only go back to history to know the reasons. This behavior conflicts
with the behavior of the Iraqi people, government, and leadership. The
actions, policy, and conduct of Iraq and Iran have become clear after
years of rule and conflict, so all, including the peoples of Iran, can
describe each of the two and know what is in their best interest.
A second example is that Iraq deposited civil and warplanes in Iran.
Some were sent to Iran before the 30-state aggression in the Mother of
Battles, and some during the fighting. This was done on the basis of a
wrong concept on our part that those concerned in Iran might respect
what is common in humanity and thus do good deeds, and on the basis of
the notion that Iran was no longer an enemy of Iraq after God had
granted us victory over evil on 8 August 1988 when the two sides agreed
to stop fighting.
This was also based on our recollection of the slogans raised by the
officials in Iran--past and present. We remembered their slogans about
America, which they used to call the Great Satan. We imagined--and we
were wrong--that it was possible for the Iranian officials to stick to
the minimum level of these slogans. This is because we did not think
then that any person, especially those who claim to be Muslims, can say
something other than what they intend, abandon their slogans overnight,
and act in a completely opposite and contrary manner. This is especially
since the showdown was between Iraq and those whom they called
the Great Satan--America and its ally, Zionism; its other allies; and
those who stood behind it.
Brothers, these two examples are taken from many others, which speak
volumes about the party on the opposite side of Iraq and reveal a part
of the morals of the two direct parties to the conflict. The outcome
of the conflict can only be explained by returning to what we said and
say in today's speech, as well as returning to the depth of the July
speech, which we delivered last month, on the occasion of the glorious
revolution anniversary. This is in addition to other facts that have
been revealed by the experience of two countries, which are only
separated by geographic borders.
Indeed, the Iranian officials inflamed the Iranian peoples and
invoked all their elements and energy, which was not used in the right
direction toward the Arabs. Thus, they collided with the great,
impregnable dam of the nation and its impregnable fortress on the
eastern side, great Iraq. Despite all the repeated calls before and
after the showdown for calmness and steering clear of the source of
evil, and despite all the calls of peace made by Iraq at the highest
levels and all other levels, the slogans, drums, and guns of
aggression and war did not cease. This is in addition to the slogans of
failed ambitions. This situation continued until the slogans of invasion
and its premeditated intention were defeated. Thus, justice
triumphed over falsehood, and it was a victory for the noble meanings of
humanity at large. This includes the Iranian peoples who did not believe
in the path of aggression. Brothers, the sword and pen--brain and
brawn--went hand in hand in a balanced action in the history of Iraq and
the nation and their immortal heritage. They were balanced in this
conflict as well.
Therefore, we did not gloat or commit treachery when the fighting
stopped, because the wisdom for us is not to use the sword instead of
the pen and not the arm instead of arguments, persuasion, and
interaction. We do not hesitate to use the sword when it is the only way
to prove an argument, and when the voice of reason fails to convince the
one who is embracing falsehood not to commit the crime of aggression.
God is great.
Based on this and based on its significance, we recall the Great
Victory Day, the day when God granted us his manifest, capable victory,
on 8 August 1988, in the second glorious al-Qadisiyah. From this day,
its precursors, and the subsequent circumstances, we can--besides what
we have said--understand the reason for Iraq's blockade for more than
nine years and the reason why those whose countries border Iraq,
including Iran, are carrying out the task of field blockade, in a manner
that encourages and supports the aggressor Americans and Zionism to
continue to kill the people of Iraq by all means.
We can also understand why the Iranian people were barred from
visiting the holy shrines while they were incited to visit them by
invading Iraq by force. Contary to reality, it was suggested as though
Iraq was preventing the Iranian people from visiting the holy shrines,
thus providing a cover for the expansionist and aggressive slogans and
exposing why Iran joined the US and Zionist intelligence services and
their collaborators in occupying al-Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq, after
the 30-state aggression against Iraq. There were other known cases of
aggression, including the use of Iranian planes in aggressive raids on
targets deep inside Iraq and also the use of missiles for the same
purpose. Moreover, these examples of aggression help in understanding
the spirit of aggression that prevailed against Iraq in 1980. Based on
this, would not the uncovering of falsehood and fabrication and
revelation of right and truth render a great service to humanity and not
Iraq or the Arab nation only? The answer is clear.
This also shows more and more clearly how and why the Great Victory
Day, 8 August 1988, deserves that we, the Iraqi people, the nation, and
all peace-loving peoples, remember it well and celebrate it all days
and years as a great human achievement despite all that had happened.
Yes, by God, it is an immortal human day. All that is not linked to it
or runs contrary to it is futile and rejected. It is truly a great day
that God has wanted it to be an evidence, a token, and a banner.
God is great. Long live Iraq. Long live our Arab nation as a shining
human model of love, goodness, and high capability. Long live the
friendship of our people and nation with the neighboring peoples and all
peoples of the world. Fie on the hostility of the aggressors. Shame on
the despicable.
Brothers: Nations and peoples are the children of their special and
general history. Despite the existing linkage, one way or another,
between the starting line the last stage or any stage of the development
of peoples and nations, any link in the chain of history, both morally
and materially, cannot be a replica of the preceding link or links.
This is not only because the phases of time are ones of constant
development, or such they ought to be, but because a basic part of
history within its rising or falling phases represents the picture of
its leaders, one way or another too.
Therefore, we can say that the pillars of history are general and
special. The general pillars pertain to the attributes, action,
characteristics, and influence of the collective condition, which is
shaped throughout history as a general characteristic of the people and
the nation. They also pertain to the attributes, action,
characteristics, and influence of the special case of those who lead
the people and the nation at a certain stage. Whenever there is strong
belief and serious, strong, and large-scale interaction between those
who lead the people and the nation on the one hand, and the people and
the nation on the other, the general pillars of history - which means
the people and the nation -- become closer to the special pillars -- the
leader and the leaders. In this case, the differences between the
general and the special are only relative. This means that these will be
the differences dictated by historical development between one stage and
another, in addition to the influence of some inherited customs. In this
case the stage appears, one way or another, as if it is the
characteristics of the leader or the leaders, added to it what is
inherited and what people want to keep linked to the characteristics and
customs of the previous historic stages.
Hence, we can understand how and why a leader, who is leading other
leaders, can transform a nation or a people and their morals and reality
and a nation with their meanings into a state of great ascension, both
upward and forward, when the leader or leaders are in conformity with
their people on the path of lofty human values. Hence, we can also
understand how a ruler or rulers can transform a nation or a people
into a state of regression and deviation from its role after they are
separated from their people and nation and after they become unable to
activate the capability of their people and nation. This may be due to
the ruler's weakness, his deviated treatment of issues, or failure to
attract them to the correct course.
Thus we can understand now why and how these events took place
between two Muslim states, both of which believed they are, and both are
described as, Muslim states, namely Iraq and Iran. The religious
description, applied to nations and peoples, whether these peoples are
Muslim in their belief or affiliation, or affiliated with other
religions, cannot annul the history of the nation before or after
conversion to, or affiliation with the new religion. Nor do they cancel
the influence of their general history when it opposes or contradicts
the new faith. However, in light of its great expansion, the level of
abidance by it, and the depth of its influence, the new faith introduces
new values and meanings into the nation's life. The new faith may also
introduce entire a historical phase characterized by the new principles,
or the substance of these principles, depending on the extent of the
belief of the leader or leaders of these nations in the new
faith, and not only the people; and also depending on the extent at
which they are ready to consider the fundamentals of this faith the
fundamentals for their thinking, action, and morals.
Hence, if the condition of genuine affiliation with the collective
state of the people and the nation --coupled with the affiliation of the
elite of the nation and people; and more specifically the affiliation
with the new faith by the ruler or rulers, who must position their
action and concept in accordance with its standards, and who must act
according to its ethics -- is not met, then the history of the nation in
the final outcome would be severed. The new faith would, in this case,
becomes merely formal, as a placard for propaganda, and not for
commitment and genuine interaction. Here, the description depends on the
agreement or difference between the collective state of the nation and
the particular state of the ruler or rulers in this respect.
Brothers, Iran was part of the Islamic state, led by the Arabs in
general. There were leaders, rulers, and guides for this state until
local leaders emerged in Iran. Those leaders usually did not harbor good
intentions toward the decision-makers in the Islamic state and they told
the Iranian peoples that they are not treated the way they deserve. They
often measure merit in terms of the situation that prevailed in Iran
under the leadership of the Persians and their kings, when they occupied
parts of countries neighboring them to the east and west, and not on the
basis of integration into the new state under the banner of its
faith and principles and under the leadership of the clear principle of
Islam in governance. O ye who believe, obey Allah, and obey the
Messenger and those charged with authority among you. (Koranic verse)
They often try to cite a part of this or try to give it an
interpretation that does not agree with the prophet's words and deeds or
the consensus of the Islamic nation. In fact, in some cases, they give a
narrow meaning to the phrase those charged with authority among you.
Thus, they confine this to the local governor in the region at a certain
moment, instead of the caliph or the leader of the faithful, so as to
facilitate the mission of the local governor in Iran in picking a fight
with the leader of the faithful or the caliph and to rebel against them.
This situation took another dimension in Iran, in light of the
cancellation of major chapters of the history of the Islamic state and
the larger part of its symbols, and confining this to certain bright
episodes, which are separated from their context and depth. These
episodes were placed within a context of opposition that does not
harmonize with all the other bright chapters.
Thus, those concerned perpetuated the history of Persian kings in
Iran, without taking pride in the history of the Islamic state. This
caused a break with the depth of this history and the concept of the
state then, which can only be surpassed by the development in our age.
This is because this concept developed and matured through the state of
Islam. In Iran, they have encouraged the development of a special
jurisprudence, not on the basis of legitimate independent judgment--
which is a duty to address new developments--but on the basis of a new
birth that is not related to its origins, since the link was cut off
from the original birth almost 800 years ago and from all the
jurisprudence of the Islamic state in the stage of the orthodox caliphs
and the history and symbols of the state. This paved the way--in
accordance with a preconceived notion of Iranian history--for a new
jurisprudence that is not linked to the depth of the jurisprudence of
the Islamic state and its symbols, including the sons and grandchildren
of 'Ali, may God be pleased with him.
[speech cont'd in pt 3]
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