The following is a partial text of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's speech broadcast on state television yesterday after the US strike on Baghdad.
In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. . .Those who are oppressed are permitted to fight and God is capable of making them victorious. God is Greatest.
To the great people of Iraq, to our brave strugglers, to our men in the heroic armed forces, to our glorious nation: At dawn prayers today on March 20, 2003 (17 Muharram 1424), the criminal, reckless little Bush and his aides committed this crime which he was threatening to commit against Iraq and humanity.
He executed his criminal act with his allies; thereby he and his followers have added to the series of shameful crimes committed against Iraq and humanity.
To the Iraqis and the good people of our nation: Your country, your glorious nation and your principles are worth the sacrifices of yourself, your souls, your family and your sons.
In this context, I don't need to repeat to you what each and every one of you must and needs to do to defend our precious nation, our principles and sanctities.
I say to every single member of the patient and faithful Iraqi family which is oppressed by the evil enemy to remember and not to forget everything that he has said and pledged.
These days, and according to God's will, will add to the eternal history of glorious Iraq.
You brave men and women of Iraq: you deserve victory and glory and everything that elevates the stature of the faithful before their God and defeats the infidels, enemies of God and humanity at large.
You, Iraqis, will be victorious along with the sons of the nation.
You are already victorious with the help of God. Your enemies will be in disgrace and shame." (Saddam then read poetry in which he called on Iraqis to fight back like their ancestors, who fought invaders with swords and on horses.) To you friends, opposed to the evil in the world, peace upon you: Now that you have seen how the reckless Bush belittled your positions and views against the war and your sincere call for peace, he has committed his despicable crime today.
We pledge to you in our name and in the name of our leadership and in the name of the Iraqi people and its heroic army, in the name of Iraq civilisation and history, that we will fight the invaders and, God willing, we will take them to the limit at which they will lose their patience and any hope to achieve what they have planned and what the Zionist criminal has pushed them to do. . .They will be defeated, a defeat that is wished for them by the good faithful and lovers of peace and humanity.
Iraq will be victorious, God willing, and with Iraq our nation and humanity will be victorious and the evil \ will be hit in a way that will make them unable to achieve their crime in the way that they, the Americans and Zionist coalition, have planned for nations and peoples, above all our glorious Arab nation. - (Reuters)