President Saddam Hussein told Iraqis yesterday they had achieved victory over the "enemies of God and humanity" in a clear reference to the US and Britain. The Iraqi leader did not mention either country by name. Nor did he refer to an announcement by the leaders of US and Britain that their 70-hour military campaign, Operation Desert Fox, had come to an end.
"You were up to the level that your leadership and your brother and comrade Saddam Hussein had hoped you would be at . . . so God rewarded you and delighted your hearts with the crown of victory," President Saddam said in a taped address to the Iraqi people and members of the armed forces.
Mr Saddam praised Iraqis and thanked them for the efforts and sacrifices they gave since the start of the operation in the early hours of Thursday. "God wanted this [confrontation] to be an honour and glory for you . . . and shame and humiliation . . . to those who carried it, the enemies of God and humanity," he said.
The address was broadcast on the Qatari satellite television station al-Jazeera, a widely viewed channel in Iraq and the rest of the Arab world.
He added that the Iraqi resistance and the ululation of Iraqi women had awakened many in the Arab world, an apparent reference to widespread pro-Iraqi protests in several countries in the region.
Mr Saddam, wearing military fatigues, did not make any attempt to send diplomatic messages to Washington and London.
Relieved Iraqis had earlier yesterday celebrated what some saw as a triumph over the US and Britain.
"We have secured a glorious victory against their mischievous attacks," Mr Abu Yousef, a tailor, said.
"This is a victory for the people of Iraq, the leadership of Iraq and the nation of Iraq," a woman said as she packed her belongings to leave a shelter in central Baghdad shortly after news of the end of the campaign filtered in.
Iraqi officials had vowed in recent days not to make any compromises. The Iraqi Vice-President, Mr Taha Yassin Ramadan, seemed on Saturday to have all but slammed the door on the return of experts of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) overseeing the elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
The inspectors left Baghdad on Wednesday after the UNSCOM chairman, Mr Richard Butler, said in a report that Iraq was not co-operating fully with the inspectors.
"Anything related to inspections, monitoring and weapons of mass destruction is behind us. If they believe these [weapons] are there, they have already hit them all," Mr Ramadan said, charging that the inspectors were "a commission of spies".
Baghdad's residents were confused yesterday morning when air raid sirens wailed again. The all-clear was given 15 minutes later with no official explanation available.
Dozens of civilians and soldiers were killed in the campaign, but Iraqi officials have refrained from giving a detailed death toll. At least 73 civilians were killed, according to a toll compiled on Saturday from official Iraqi reports. The US and Britain reported no losses on their bombing runs.
The last attack on Baghdad took place at 9:35 p.m. (6.35 p.m. Irish time) on Saturday when at least one missile slammed down just metres from the entrance of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, wounding three guards, according to an army officer.
Iraq has challenged the effectiveness of the attacks, saying yesterday it had shot down 21 missiles out of 81 fired on Saturday alone, raising the number of missiles Iraq says it shot down to about 120.
The Iraqi army said Saturday night's missiles targeted residential areas, hospitals, industrial installations and "certain military units". On the last Sunday before Christmas, it was estimated that 750,000 Iraqi Christians gathered to pray that the uneasy peace would last.
"Every day we've been praying for the war to stop. Now we are praying to thank God for stopping the bombs," said Fr Bassil Marrogi, a priest at the Sacred Heart church in the Al-Wadha area of the Iraqi capital.