President Saddam Hussein’s Address on the 7th Anniversary of Mother of All Battles (1988)
Speech of the President on 17/1/1998.
In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
“Be sure we shall test you With something of fear And hunger, some loss In goods or lives or the fruits But give glad tidings to those Who patiently persevere.”
“The Cow” Sura 155, The Glorious Koran
Our great people,
Valiant members of our brave armed forces,
Our glorious Arab Nation,
Good people and friends everywhere,
Peace be with you
When our master Abraham, peace be upon him, the father of prophets, and the grand grandfather of our prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, decided to leave Iraq, where he was born and lived together with his family, to roam other part of the Arab Homeland at the order of God, to preach his call for monotheism and faith which he had originally started in Iraq, In the name of the Compassionate, the Merciful, “And Abraham: behold, he said to his people, ‘serve God and fear Him: What will be best for you- if you understand!”, he had nothing other than a stick in his hand at that time to confront the surprises of the road and to face up to the ill-intentioned who were opposed to his call.
Read also: Saddam Hussein’s Address: 10th versary of the Day of Days (1988)
He had only a stick to scare away a wolf or a dog that tried to harm him. Thus was the case with Prophets, Messengers, and great reformers throughout eternity, since God created the Universe and its inhabitants and suggested the significance of monotheism and faith in the relationship between the Creator and the creature between the zeal that is generated by the soul along the drive in the vast land of God and in the creation of the new life and its prerequisites to confront the aspects of nature, wild creatures and the factors of elevating them and man to that which can maintain progress uninterrupted on a sound basis.
This is what we have learnt and known since we were pupils. This is what we have grown up to believe in our consciousness so much so that it has constituted, together with all the sublime meanings and the implications of well-seated faith, the basis of the background of our thinking and the core of the ingredients of our Ba’thist ideology in terms of the outlook to the creation of the new life and the confrontation of the challenges that obstruct the course of justice.
This is the background of today which is burning with capability and influence in the Iraqis’ mind and thinking or rather in the back of all Arabs’ mind and conscience, each according to his faith, consciousness, and of faith that forms his psychological structure. Relying on such faith, we have confronted and resisted the terms of submission set by the despot of the last years of the twentieth century, and his call on Iraq to surrender under his oppression and arrogance.
This despot imagined this could be achieved by the mere show of the brute force at his disposal after he had based his conclusions on concepts that are detrimental to a conscience and mode of thinking which are out-moded in terms of comparison based on materialistic consderations. This materialistic perspective blurs the ability of officials in that state which acts tyrannically in terms of brute force and deviation of justice to conjure up the backdrop of the thinking and attitudes and above all, the historical, spiritual and cultural formation of great Iraq, of our greater glorious Arab Nation and the legacy of the glorious 17-30 July Revolution.
One aspect of this is the fact that God has made the enemies underestimate Iraq and the Arab Nation and made Iraq see his enemies numbered although they are too many. It is His will.
In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
” And remember when you met, He showed them to you as few in your eyes, and He made you appear as contemptible in their eyes: that God might accomplish a matter already enacted. For to God do all questions go back (for decision). The Glorious Koran
Thus, there was the Iraqi rejection of the terms of submission and surrender, roaring across the horizons. The banner of Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest) is hoisted high at its mast. The showdown started at its two ends, with a stick we were waving or striking at any of the dogs of aggression, some with nuclear teeth, who approached our fortress.
So in appreciation of the meanings of our position, the great stance of the brave Iraqi army and people and recollection of all the meanings of martyrdom at the battlefield, we make this recollection so is the case with generations in the Arab Homeland and Iraq which will later make their recollections of these meanings, and will never forget them . They in fact live with so that momentum and action would be higher and greater whenever they are faced with injustice and a tyrant, tyranny and a despot, so that faith would remain unshaken in the bosoms and the consciences would remain capable of feeling the places, courses and aims of justice as opposed to injustice.
God is the Greatest.
Great people.
Valiant members of the armed forces.
Sons of our glorious Arab Nation.
Friends around the world.
Today is January 17 when, seven years ago at 2.30 early morning , the devil implicated America and others who were also involved (in the aggression) after their feet went astray from the true path of God. It was the day when 28 armies led by the American tyranny acting on behalf of more than 30 states that had allied themselves for aggression, unleashed the shells of malice, hatred, evil and whim at Baghdad, the city of virtue, great history, glory, and of distinctive mark in attitude, and characteristics in the entire Arab Nation of glory and virtue.
It was God who chose for the entire Arab Nation and Iraq roles and messages in appreciation of the characteristics of Iraq to which it is the capital . It is a role to serve tortured humanity throughout ages against despots of successive eras and the ruthless devils on their way to hell.
Since the bombs and rockets of evil hit Baghdad and Iraq in its entirety, that day became a dawn of additional glory in the history of Baghdad, the capital of AL-Rasheed, AL-Mansour and the great Ba’th and throughout Iraq of jihad too from north to south. The dawn increased in magnificence and light when honourable Iraqi men and women held out, hoisting the great of banner of jihad, the banner of Allahu Akbar (God in the Greatest) high over the corps of jihad and honour.
Ever since, that day has become another stain of shame and disgrace in the face of those who wanted it to be a day of shame for them. As time elapsed, and with the adherence of Iraqis to their principles, American officials have become witness to their shame and perfidy. Whenever they stood before the mirror, they found their faces covered with disgusting leprosy, not of a curable temporary type. It is the leprosy of mischief, designed to achieve a false objective. Leprosy has spread to other parts of the body as obstinacy, malice and the desire to hurt the heroic people of Iraq and the sincere army of the nation increased the verdict of God which has appeared on all parts of the body. Whenever a wind blew, it revealed the weakness of those who chose to insist on the same attitude, refusing to rectify it. In the forefront of the line of the despaired and the deceitful, stands America of the ominous evil against the peoples and nations of this age.
Brothers,
On this day, January 17, the world was preoccupied by the wedding ceremony of America, to be crowned at a place they termed a peak after so many stars had nose-dived and after America was able to tear apart the banners of its arch rivals who were not letting it ascend to or infiltrate into whatever it sought to reach.
While the American official was poised there to announce he had become the unrivaled and unopposed King of the World and that all must kneel obediently to him without having the right to reject his crowning or to oppose any stance by Washington, and while false witnesses and slaves were about to place on him the absolute crown on which the names of most world states were inscribed save two or three who tacitly grumbled with discontent, albeit with a faint voice and shaken rejection, and, when the tyrant viewed with contempt everything, a breeze carrying the scent of prophets who were born in dignified Iraq and who bore the meanings of message and the great revelation blew on dignified Iraq to reinforce faith in the chests of the men and women of Baghdad. They recalled the memory of our master Abraham.
In the Name of God the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful: ” Ye, Fire be cool and save Abraham,” “The Glorious Koran” he had only a stick in addition to his call, which he had, at the request of God to take to the land of the Pharaoh and its people. It was a call for monotheism, a true faith, not fearing the discrepancies in material capabilities.
They remembered too the stick of Moses, peace be upon him, which God turned into an evidence in the face of the Pharaoh of that age. They remembered the stick of Jesus, peace be upon him, which he never raised against anybody. They remembered that who made the pledge and took the stance of the great Jihad, Mohammed Bin Abdullah, peace be upon him. They remembered how he faced up to the tyrants and despots of his time, how the armies of Moslems destroyed the edifices of these empires to establish justice after they had routed all forms of injustice.
The people of Iraq recalled all that when the two parties were face to face at the two ends of the battlefield. They mistakenly believed they could force Iraq to say “yes” with others to crown the evil American official as the unrivaled King of the four directions. Then, the hearts of those who were frightened gaped up their throats. In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful: ” Behold! they came on you from above you and from below you, and behold, the eyes became dim and the hearts gaped up the throats, and Ye imagined various (vain) thoughts about God.” “The Glorious Koran” Here in Baghdad and in the battlefield, across Iraq, the fervor of faith and steadfastness intensified fearless of the confrontation of the despot.
All Iraqis said it in one voice: ” No”. With this Iraqi and Arab “No” the shells of evil roared. Their warships and frigates flocked ( into the area ) bringing in ominous snakes and ravens, their warplanes and missiles to hit every living thing and everything essential to life. The roar of the Iraqi and Arab “No” was louder, God willing, than all their weapons. The crown of the unrivaled King which they thought impregnable then rolled down as the echo (of the “No” ) swept across all parts of earth, after this crown had slipped from the hand of the helpless, there at the coronation stand. It was smeared with their shame and the kingdom remained God’s alone. In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful: ”
Blessed be He in whose hands is Dominion, and He over all things hath power.” “The Glorious Koran”
The guests who were forced to attend the fallacious coronation then walked away. It was a coronation with a testimony made by false or forced or blindly docile signatures because it is God’s will that despotism should not prevail in the world. He has never allowed this to happen throughout ages.
As the crown rolled, the chair of the king began to shake with every passing day, taking stances of arrogance and evil against Baghdad. Meanwhile, the attitude and the banner of Allah Akbar ( God is the Greatest) has become visible in the remotest parts of the world, winning admiration, respect and love on the largest scale after God has blessed it with firmness, virtue and faith.
Dear brothers,
From the essence of these meanings, basic aspects and the reasons for the 30-state aggression against Iraq could be understood. The essence of these meanings underlines why and how Iraq said ” No ” , stood firm, resisted and emerged victorious. Among these meanings is the message Iraq sent on the People’s Day, November 11, 1997. It was the day in which previous days culminated to reveal to the whole world all that America tried to conceal, to uncover a considerable part of the disinformation process which America, its media and lackeys pursued before the representatives of states or before the people who remained astray from the truth or might have looked like this.
Hail, the People’s Day, its vanguards and the great people who brought it about with patience, forbearance and challenge.
God is the greatest.
Arab brothers,
In our speech of last July 1997 and in the series of statements made by the leadership and senior officials in Iraq, there were successive calls on the importance of an Arab solidarity on the governmental level, which we believe inevitable for fulfilling the requirements of development and of countering foreign ambitions and hostility. Our noble call has been well-received by some Arabs (and appeared in their statements) who have a fair amount of knowledge about Iraq and its leadership. Yet, few of them still have a suspicion that our call has been originated from a feeling of weakness, fear and concern about the future of Iraq alone. To remove the veil which has blinkered their eyes we would like to say to them that our noble and responsible call was never mentioned so successively and clearly in the years 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995 as the Leadership did not want to announce it then lest it should confuse some officials, Arab or foreign, as to its causes and effects. But now that nearly seven years have passed since the beginning of the aggression in which every well-known means, capabilities and weapons were used on the battlefield, it has become apparent that all these means have failed to discredit Iraq’ s principled attitude or to damage its true patriotism and strict commitment to pan-Arabism. We have assumed, and perhaps rightly so, that there will be no more ill-judgment that may deceive the majority of the nation’s rulers and their loyal subjects into believing that Iraq’ s call to the nation to join forces on the path that safeguards its strength, dignity, power and wealth, could be interpreted in a way that might empty the call of its original and responsible content and hinder its progress for discharging its role with honour and responsibility. Should our call were a tactic for crossing a certain phase, it would have been better to be addressed to America and Zionism as some frustrated inferiors do. Our call, however, was aimed at the nation at a time when Iraq was fighting, with power and faith, America and its lackey the Zionists whenever there was a new aggression against Iraq. Such an attitude by Iraq is almost unique. It was the same, thirty years ago, when Iraq appealed to the nation and the circumstances at that time were congenial and the conditions surrounding it did not permit of any equivocation or ambiguity. It was on this account that our call was construed by prudent men who bear no malice, prejudice or covet of revenge in their bosoms and souls.
The motive which prompted our call, together with the calls made by our comrades in the Leadership, for a united stance that could further augment the nations ‘s spiritual and temporal existence, has always been a concern over the entire Arab nation, its interests and riches, as has it a concern over the events taking place in practically every individual country. It was by no means a concern over Iraq alone. Iraq is protected by God. It is in trustworthy and powerful hands and in hearts full of faith and courage. It resides in the eyeballs of the revolutionaries who never have faint hearts or faltering courage.
Harm might be done to Iraq , and blood might be shed on its land in larger or smaller amount than before , and cases of martyrdom increase among those who will be bitten by the snakes of perfidy and embargo, and the roll of the wheel of development might suffer to some extent and to a certain degree but, Iraq, as a land and as an embodiment of pan-Arab civilized, humanitarian and historical roll will remain. What Iraq is losing as a result of the aggression and sanctions will be recompensed from the momentum it gains from steadfastness and resistance as well as from the spiritual lessons and meanings inherited in the history of humanity. This could prove more eloquent for expressing the firmness of human faith and nationalism and may surpass all others.
What concerns us, Arab brothers, is not what causes harm to our people or to the entire members of the greater Arab nation in more than a place or in more than an Arab country including Iraq. The most serious matter that should take precedence over all others is the fate of the greater Arab nation and the suspension of its role to take advantage of the opportunity available for it to keep pace with historical development and to assume its national and human role. This is particularly true for certain societies in the Nation which might not be able to catch another opportunity for development once they lose their historic opportunity of petrol and human resources and lose faith in the capability of their members to develop and defend the nation they belong to.
For these very reasons, we underline again the importance of overcoming, by all of us, the obstacles which stand in our way and which have bled the hearts before the feet. We have to forget our past sorrows now that we have learnt lesson from them. We have to work all, with mutual agreement, for building a better future for the nation after we solidify our present and reinforce it with a faithful creative power which pleases God and the people.
In this speech, which is a recollection of the connotations and lessons of the historic confrontation at the glorious Mother of all Battles, whose major phase of fight started on January 17, 1991, we find ourselves faced with the duty of telling the officials in America a wisdom which we have deduced from that unforgettable battle. Its moral point can be summarized as follows: It is quite possible that one makes an error of judgment when he examines his power prior to its application, and it is also quite probable that he makes the same mistake as regards his enemy’s power. As a result, he gives his power one mark higher than what he deserves or what God, the Almighty and All-powerful may permit and gives his enemy’s power one mark lower than what he deserves or his firm faith may suggest. But he is considered slow on the uptake if he repeats the same mistake with an enemy who has been put to the test and has countered all powers and potentialities used against it.
It is necessary for America not to delude itself into believing that it can do harm to Iraq in a way that enables it to achieve the goals bequeathed to it by the ancestors other than causing pain to our people and this will be recompensed by God, the Almighty and All-powerful, who will put the Iraqis in their proper place and reward martyrs in his heaven for their sublime sacrifice.
But God, the Most High, is digging pits on the path of the Americans. These pits, covered and dark, may get deeper with the passing of the time when their nervousness and disappointment increase. The Americans will retreat and depart, day after day, from the peak which they think they have reached when they dared to attack the glorious city of Baghdad with their bombs and missiles but the city, nevertheless, has proved to be impregnable to foreign aggression. They should, therefore, re-examine and reconsider what they are doing so that the unjust sanctions imposed on Iraq come to an end. They should also not be misled again or mislead themselves into believing that they can achieve by military aggression what they were unable to achieve by their means of malice, deception and trickery. This is because they have already tested it on several occasions and have thought after or before it that deceit, political deception by means of imposing sanctions and plotting in the dark could lead to their desired aims. The Americans must realize, and this should not be construed as a threat, that as we fought against them and endured their aggression over the past eight years, we have come to know their force and their power for causing harm, in the same manner as we presume they have known the power of the great Iraq and God’s protection of it.
Hence, we do not want to fall into the trap of miscalculation into which they have fallen and to vie with them their slow understanding. We only want to attract attention to it and not to embarrass our enemy. Embarrassment is not our aim or goal. All we want to say is that Iraq, as people, leadership and representative bodies at all levels and with different designations are determined, without the slightest retreat, to fight a grand jihad for lifting the sanctions.
If the Security Council does not take a decision in fulfillment of its obligations towards Iraq as stipulated in the unjust resolutions which it took alone and without the participation of Iraq as reciprocal commitments, then Iraq has resolved to take a decision consistent with the recommendations of people’s representatives at the National Assembly and shall assume full responsibility for it since there is no other alternative course of action.
We are firmly convinced that the people of the Arab nation will judge the matter favourably not only in understanding Iraq’s situation but also in giving support to its efforts in all fields and at all forums, so that the slogan “lifting the unjust sanctions ” will ultimately win and achieve its purpose in breaking open a main gate of conspiracy. We hope and expect that our friends in the world will understand us and everyone, from his own position, will do something to curb evil and support truth.
To the peoples of the Third World countries, to their officials and to all countries which share balanced view as regards their relations and interests with this world, we say that America has revealed its true nature as a tyrannical power, selfish and blind which sees nothing but its narrow interests even if their realization of such interest might lead to impoverishing, undermining and destroying these countries and societies after plunging them into a series of crises, wars and disasters.
It is a new disgusting imperialism with all its schemes and policies. It has worn the garb of the people of hell which has a surface appearance of brightness but is actually concealing claws of torture of predatory animals which prey on nothing save human flesh.
Against this background and now that every nation of the world has painful stories, some of them are tragic, of an infringement on its sovereignty, security and vital interests, nothing can save the world but a cooperative and human nationalism in every country of the world especially in Third World countries and forms of solidarity and economic and political cooperation at both popular, official and other levels to contain America’s evils and its flames which have spread all over and are threatening the world with all kinds of fire.
We know that this description about America is an expression of what is deep in the hearts and consciences of the whole world, but we also know that not everyone who has this conviction is capable of revealing what is kept in his heart, conscience and mind. We are, therefore, all invited to work together in one direction albeit every individual country of the world has its own course of action in expressing its national attitude at all forums, particularly at international and regional ones and at all opportunities when such are made available for the national will to act in a fair and objective manner.
Let us all remember America’s economic conspiracies and its financial dealings which it used against the peoples of Latin America and south-east Asia and even Japan in the last stage despite the fact that most of these countries are its friends until very recently or partners in terms of labour and economic cooperation.
Let them also remember and never forget that America’s continuous military aggression and economic sanctions against Iraq are but one manifestation of its selfish and narrow-minded outlook which includes, among others, taking possession of oil and national resources of the countries of the region so that its slogan of controlling the entire world becomes possible.
On this understanding, the struggle of the people of Iraq now is a humane struggle for ridding the world of its disasters in the same manner as Iraq is ridding its people of a disaster. A solidarity by the countries of the world with Iraq for preventing an aggression against it and for lifting the sanctions on it, therefore, a national act and a duty which must be discharged without delay or hesitation. Indeed, a national struggle at this stage which meets with others at common goals for resisting this wild ghoul as an urgent human struggle and a duty to be done by all for the sake of living in a world where no tyrant, oppressor or unjust exploiter can be the sole power, and a world which is both cooperating and secure, capable of seizing its legitimate opportunities without foreign dominion or hegemony.
God is the greatest
Glory be to martyrs of Arab nation and of Iraq at the
glorious Um Al-Marik battle
Glory be to the nation’s martyrs wherever they are
Long live our glorious Arab nation
Long live Iraq
Long live Palestine, a free Arab country
God is the greatest
God is the greatest
Evil be to him who evil thinks.