Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said Friday that Iraq had mobilized its forces to defeat U.S. forces at the gates of Baghdad should they invade his country.
"We have determined and planned to defeat the aggressors. We have mobilized our abilities, including those of the army, people and leadership," he said in the text of a televised speech marking the 12th anniversary of the Gulf War.
"Baghdad, its people and leadership, is determined to force the Mongols of our age to commit suicide at its gates," Saddam said.
Calling U.S. troops the "new Mongols," the Iraqi leader said they would not be able to conquer a "mobilized and determined" Iraq. "The army of Hulagu has come again to clash with Baghdad after it was born anew. They will commit suicide on the walls of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities," he conveyed.
U.S. President Bush said Thursday his patience with Saddam was running out. "It's his choice to make. It's up to Saddam Hussein to do what the entire world has asked him to do," Bush said during a speech in Scranton. "So far the evidence hasn't been very good that he is disarming. And time is running out. At some point in time the United States' patience will run out."
Exile?
Meanwhile, German current affairs magazine Der Spiegel said the Iraqi government is seeking guarantees to allow Saddam Hussein and other top aides to go into exile.
"An African nation is being discussed," said the magazine, referring to comments from one Western and two Arab ambassadors in Dubai.
The German publication said Baghdad was insisting Saddam and his relatives should be free from prosecution if they went abroad.The Iraqi conditions include the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region, an insistence that weapons inspections and U.N. sanctions end and that steps are taken against what it says is the production of weapons of mass destruction by Israel.
"The diplomats, who decline to be named, have not revealed the source of their information," Der Spiegel said.
It added Washington considered the conditions unacceptable, while Egypt was seeking to persuade Baghdad to compromise. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
