Saddam Addresses Nation to Mark End of Iraq-Iran War

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein delivered a nation-wide address on Tuesday morning to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the end of the Iraq-Iran war.

In his annual "great victory day" speech, Saddam expressed his highest appreciation for the jihad (or holy war) of the Iraqi people and Iraqi armed forces.

"Every year, the eighth of August towers above us like a splendid moon in the skies of our people and our nation, or like a morning star that guides those who follow the bright path in a dark night," he said.

Meanwhile, he condemned the Gulf states and other countries for allowing the United States and Britain to use their bases to bomb Iraq, calling them "traitors who sold their souls."

Ever since December 1998, the US and British warplanes have been using bases in Turkey, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to patrol and bomb targets in the two so-called no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq.

Iraq has never recognized the zones, which were imposed on the country after the 1991 Gulf war triggered by Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and has termed Turkey, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as "full culprits" collaborating with the U.S. and Britain.

In his speech, the Iraqi president also attacked Iraq's enemies, including Iran, the Gulf states allied with the US as well as other perceived enemies of Iraq.

However, the rhetoric of the speech is seen not as strong as that of last year, in which Saddam vehemently blasted Iran and other enemies of Iraq.

The speech made little reference to the issue of prisoners of war (POWs), a stumbling block hindering the normalization of the relations between the two countries.

Iran has announced it will release some 700 Iraqi POWs later this week.

Iran said in June that it has freed a total of 3,389 Iraqis since the start of the current Iranian year on March 20. All the POWs were set free under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Iran says it has documents showing that more than 3,000 Iranian POWs are sill being held in Iraq, while Iraq claims that 9,000 more Iraqi soldiers are kept in Iranian prisons, apart from almost 20, 000 not registered with the ICRC.

The eight-year-long Iraq-Iran war, which ended on August 8, 1988, claimed some one million lives and caused severe damages to the two neighbors' economy.



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