Saddam Blasts US in Gulf War Anniversary Address

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 17, 2002

Saddam Blasts US in Gulf War Anniversary Address

In his annual Gulf War anniversary address, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein blasted the use of force by the U.S. in the world and claimed the U.S. is heading toward abyss.

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In his annual Gulf War anniversary address, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein blasted the use of force by the U.S. in the world and claimed the U.S. is heading toward abyss.

Saddam said that the September 11 attacks in the U.S. and the subsequent U.S. reaction "came to reveal extensively how the U.S. is going headlong in antagonizing the world," referring the U.S. retaliatory anti-terror attacks against the Taliban and the al- Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan.

"People all over the world now feel a strong antagonism toward the U.S. and the role it is playing or planning to play," Saddam said in the address carried by the official Iraqi News Agency (INA).

The Iraqi leader warned the U.S. to change its way of treating not only the world but also itself "fairly and justly."

"But it (U.S.) will not do what is right and it is inevitably heading toward the abyss," Saddam said.

He accused the U.S. of having established "a metropolis of force" which is devoid of historical values and "destructive of the human soul and the human structure founded on faith and human affection."

Saddam's speech came amid fresh warnings by U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday to the Iraqi leader to allow United Nations arms inspectors back or face the consequences.

"I expect Saddam Hussein to let inspectors back into the country ... If he doesn't, we will have to deal with him at the appropriate time," Bush said at the start of a meeting with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit at the White House.

Speculation has been ripe that the U.S. may attack Iraq under the pretext of Iraq's refusal to arms inspections, which have been suspended since the U.S.-British military strikes against Iraq in December 1998.

Striking a defiant note, Saddam said bombing Iraq does not bring honor to whoever does it because "Baghdad is the symbol of the Arabs and Muslims, the cradle of their culture, the glorious and deep-rooted part of their heritage."

Thursday marks the 11th anniversary of the outbreak of the Gulf War, which started in the early morning of January 17, 1991 when the U.S.-led multinational forces began a bombing blitz on Iraq and Iraqi troops in Kuwait. The six-week war was triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.

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