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A defiant Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said Thursday he was not scared by US threats to topple him and said those who attack Iraq will be digging their own graves.
His 22-minute televised speech to the nation was high on rhetoric but Washington branded it irrelevant and the United Nations said it gave no rise to optimism that Iraq would admit UN arms inspectors, seen as key to avoiding a possible war.
As it was broadcast, thousands of Iraqis clad in military fatigues and clutching assault rifles paraded in Baghdad, denouncing the United States and vowing to defend Saddam to the death.
Saddam, showing no signs of flinching in the face of saber- rattling by US President Bush, said Iraq would resist any attack. Calling the United States an arrogant aggressor, he said: "Darkness shall be defeated."
"The forces of evil will carry their coffins on their backs, die in disgraceful failure, taking their schemes back with them, or digging their own graves," he said in the address marking the anniversary of the end of the disastrous 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
Washington, which defeated Saddam once before in the Gulf War, said the speech contained nothing new.
"(It is) bluster from an internationally isolated dictator, demonstrative yet again that his regime shows no intention to live up to its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions," US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.
Bush has called Saddam a threat to peace and seeks a "regime change" in Baghdad.
(China Daily August 10, 2002)
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