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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 16, 2003

Saddam Says Iraq Does Not Want War with US

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said on Wednesday Iraq did not want war with the United States but if Iraq was attacked, his country would fight back.


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Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said on Wednesday Iraq did not want war with the United States but if Iraq was attacked, his country would fight back.

"Given the choice, we do not want war, but if it is imposed on us, we will fight," Saddam said on Iraqi state television.

"Your brothers in Iraq are committed to defending Iraq or any other Arab country that foreigners would like to invade," he told adelegation of Jordanian tribal leaders.

"God will grant victory against the enemy to those who are forced into fighting to defend their rights and their holy saints,"the Iraqi president said.

The United States accuses Saddam's regime of secretly developingweapons of mass destruction and is pouring tens of thousands of troops into the Gulf region to back up its threats to disarm Baghdad by force.

Saddam also criticized certain Arab leaders for only worrying about possible devastating impacts by a war on the region, but not Iraq.

"You cannot understand how painful I am to hear an Arab leader saying that an attack on Iraq would be catastrophic for the entire region," he said.

He stressed that the most important thing for them "is to find away of stopping the evil after it has hit Iraq before it can affect" the rest of the region.


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