London Arabic Newspaper Prints Purportedly Saddam's Letter

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, May 11, 2003

London Arabic Newspaper Prints Purportedly Saddam's Letter

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A London-based Arabic-language newspaper Saturday published a letter, which was claimed to be written by toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, calling for Iraqis to rise up against the US-led occupying forces.

The Al-Quds al-Arabi daily published the text and also photographs of the hand-written letter, saying it was faxed to thenewspaper from Jordan on Friday. The letter was dated May 7 with each page being signed by Saddam.

However, the letter's authenticity is in doubt, and its handwriting and tone were not thought to match the style of documents known to be written by Saddam. It also contained grammatical mistakes, misspellings and crossed-out words.

But Abdel al-Bari Atwan, the newspaper's editor, said, "I thinkit is written by Saddam Hussein. We had received a communique fromthe Iraqi Resistance and Liberation (organization) and they said they would issue two letters,"

"We are not 100 percent sure, but I believe the letters are as close to being authentic as can be," Atwan told local reporters Saturday.

The letter accused US-led forces of looting Iraqi banks and of preparing to rob Iraq's vast oil resources, urging Iraqi people torise up to resist the occupation.

"The invaders have stolen your wealth; the archaeological finds,your oil. They have stolen more money from the banks," the letter said.

"Your banks were full of money for depositors and for the statein various currencies. The invaders have stolen them and they willsteal their oil and resources. This is not unusual for Bush and Blair are thieves and killers," it said.

It also urged Iraqis not to descend into sectarian strife.

Meanwhile, the letter also accused Iraq's neighbors of helping the US-UK invasion and threatened to reveal secrets which "would change the convictions of many".

The newspaper published another letter purportedly written by Saddam on April 30.

The whereabout of Saddam has remained unknown since he was ousted early last month.

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