Saddam Says Victory Will Go to Iraqi People

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, January 07, 2003

Saddam Says Victory Will Go to Iraqi People

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said on Monday victory will go to Iraqi people as the United States is threatening to launch attacks on the country.

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Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Monday said victory will go to Iraqi people as the United States isthreatening to launch attacks on the country.

"We are in our country and the one who is in his country is right and its enemy is wrong. When the enemy comes as an aggressor,the victory will go to the people of right when they are inside their homeland," Saddam said in a televised speech marking the Iraqi Army Day.

"The enemy will be defeated disgracefully," he said on the 82nd anniversary of the founding of the Iraqi armed forces.

The Iraqi strong man also accused the United States of trying tooccupy the oil-rich Gulf region.

"Iraq is not the sole target in the region. The objective is to entirely and effectively occupy the Arab Gulf in order to achieve several goals...to control Gulf countries and its wealth as well asto break up some of these countries," Saddam said.

He urged the Iraqi people to prepare themselves to face up any "additional aggression as the aggression has already taken place" and in the mean time to "live and build for the future."

Saddam's remarks came as the US forces are building up in the Gulf region in preparation for a possible US-led war on Iraq.

The Pentagon has issued orders to the US 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to deploy some of its units to the Gulf in preparation for a possible military showdown with Iraq, agencies reports said on Friday.

A spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force reportedly confirmed that some elements of the Force did receive orders this week for movement to the Gulf, but he refused to reveal how many and when the Marines would be deployed.

The US military on Wednesday already ordered more than 11,000 desert-trained soldiers from its 3rd Infantry Division stationed inthe state of Georgia to deploy to the Gulf.

The deployments are part of the US plan to double its military presence in the Gulf region in January.

In his Army Day speech, Saddam also accused the UN arms inspectors of engaging in "pure intelligence work" as they were searching Iraqi sites for alleged weapons of mass destruction.

"They started to take care of collecting lists of Iraqi scientists, ask workers questions related to other purposes and focus on military camps and unbanned military production and other things," Saddam said.

"These things, or most of them, are pure intelligence work," he added.

While denying US allegation that it has weapons of mass destruction, Iraq has accepted UN Security Council Resolution 1441 that provides for a tougher weapons inspection regime in the country.

Under Resolution 1441, the weapons experts resumed their huntingfor prohibited weapons of mass destruction in Iraq on Nov. 27 aftera four-year suspension.

There are currently 110 inspectors in Iraq, 100 of whom are fromthe United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and 10 from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The inspectors, who have so far searched more than 200 suspectedsites in Iraq, must give their first report to the UN Security Council about Iraq's weapons programs by a Jan. 27 deadline.

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