Arab press reports Tuesday said that the toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein could address the Iraqi people within 72 hours. Meanwhile, opposition leader, Abdel Amir al Rikabi told Al Bawaba by telephone from his office in Paris that “the Iraqi people’s resistance against the American forces has been growing.” He revealed that 20 US soldiers were killed and 10 armored carriers were destroyed amid what he claimed was a “media blackout imposed by Washington on such reports.”
“A few days ago the US announced a rise in its soldiers’ death toll in Iraq to 158 while it was 126 only few days before the announcement,” said Rikabi. However, he ruled out the accuracy of a report published by the London based Arabic daily Al Quds Al Arabi, which he said, “was received from [a group that calls itself] Iraqi Resistance Leadership.”
The reports, which asserted that Saddam is still alive, said the toppled president would make the address on the anniversary of his 66th birthday.
Since the early 1980s the ousted president turned April 28 (his birthday) into a national holiday in Iraq, where ceremonies and festivals were performed throughout the country.
Citing what it described as a letter from the group (Iraqi Resistance Leadership), the paper said, “President Saddam Hussein is still alive and will address the Iraqi people and the nation within 72 hours.” The letter claimed that “the Iraqi fighters have caused heavy losses amongst the US and British invading forces, estimating the losses as thousands of dead and wounded.”
Days ago, Rikabi publicly announced the emergence of this faction, which came about due to the swift fall of Baghdad, however, he denied he knew anything about the letter. “I have not heard of it and my announcement about the emergence of the IRL (Iraqi Resistance Leadership) has come upon a request from Arab figures who had previously lived in Baghdad. These personalities were close to the former Iraqi leadership and familiar with the political ‘life’ there. They left Baghdad after the fall of the regime and contacted me requesting to make this announcement.”
Rikabi, who offered the “third solution” for the Iraqi issue at the beginning of the Iraqi-US crisis believes that the IRL has reinvented itself twice already since the fall of Baghdad. “At the start, there was a general feeling amongst many to commence resistance against US forces directly after the fall of Baghdad, but later on others preferred to wait until they are organized and the situation is assessed” he said.
The 55-year old Iraqi opposition leader was a leading candidate in the formation of a non-Baath Iraqi government under Saddam’s regime, particularly after amnesty was given [by Saddam Hussein] to all prisoners, a condition stipulated by opposition groups that were in contact with the former regime.
Iraq’s former deputy premier Tariq Aziz once described Rikabi as a “model for any opposition leader and the ideal candidate for [what was called] the ‘third solution’”, a solution that chose to oppose Saddam’s approach rather than he as a president.
In its letter, the IRL accused US forces, the Iraqi National Congress, led by Ahmed Chalabi, several Arab countries, satellite channels and former Iraqi officials of conspiring against Iraq.
The group said, “an American officer gave money to the correspondent of a Lebanese satellite channel in exchange for broadcasting false news reports and focusing on the relations between Sunni and Shiite Muslims instead of focusing on the American occupation.” In the same context, “Saudi and Kuwaiti money was paid to satellite channels in the [Persian] Gulf to justify the American invasion and promote stories from CIA sources,” it added.
Al Quds al Arabi daily cited the IRL’s letter as also stating, “Saddam discovered at a late stage that his aides, who were opposed to any democratic change in Iraq, were the first people to run from the battlefield. He also discovered that some of them have been CIA agents throughout their long political career.”
As far as Syria is concerned, the letter said, “It (Syria) is handing over former Iraqi officials and resistance leaders in its territories to the US marines.” As far as Chalabi’s men are concerned, “The Iraqi National Congress has been looting Iraq’s antiquities and wealth and even the nation’s scientific research on behalf of the pentagon” it claimed. It also accused Iran of trying to divide Iraqis and ignite sectarianism among them by sending its men into Iraq.
As for the Saudi intelligence, the letter claims, “[Saudi intelligence agents] entered Iraq under the cover of mobile hospitals and arrested a Saudi opposition leader in Baghdad. The GCC states are sending food and water to the US occupational forces inside Iraq.”
Moreover, the letter also accused Jordan of coordinating with the Israeli intelligence agency (Mossad) to find an ‘Iraqi party’ ready to recognize Israel, and accused the Egyptians of working with the Iraqi opposition to “keep the occupation forces in Iraq for as long as possible.”
Accusing them of being spies and not have anything to do with the press or the humanitarian work, the IRL threatened ‘all journalists working for Fox News, CNN and the Israeli press’ as well as Saudi intelligence agents to “leave Iraqi immediately.” (Albawaba.com)
