'Saddam' letter urges fight
Saturday, 10 May, 2003
BBC
A London Arabic newspaper has published a new hand- written letter said to be from the ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
The letter calls on Iraqis to transform mosques into centres of resistance against US-led forces.
"All of you protect the homeland and all of you take up the resistance. Do not ...let them seize your oil and wealth... ," the message says.
The letter, dated 7 May and sent by fax to the Al-Quds Al- Arabi newspaper, bitterly attacks the US and Britain, but also pours scorn on Iraq's neighbours.
The newspaper, which published a similar message dated 28 April - Saddam Hussein's birthday - said it believed he had written and signed it.
The former president's fate has been unclear since the start of the war on 20 March, but this is the third message allegedly from him to surface since the end of last month.
On 7 May, Australia's Sydney Morning Herald newspaper carried the transcript of what appeared to be an audio tape recording by him urging Iraqis to fight against the US-led "invasion".
This latest letter calls on the Iraqi people - Shia and Sunni, Arab, Kurd and Turkmen alike - to unite to resist the occupiers.
Defence of the homeland, the letter insists, is a religious and national duty.
"I call on you, children of Iraq, to turn the mosques into centres of resistance and to ensure the triumph of religion, Islam and the homeland, and to make the enemy feel that you hate him by word and deed."
The letter also appears to refer to reports in the US media that Saddam Hussein ordered his younger son, Qusay, to take about $1bn in cash from the Iraqi Central Bank just hours before the first bombs fell on Baghdad.
State department spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed the report on 6 May following an article in the New York Times.
The letter said to be from Saddam Hussein says: " I say that the American and British invaders have plundered the antiquities and your oil from your wealth and even plundered from the banks amounts of money that exceed by far what they are declaring."
Neighbours condemned
The letter also details what it describes as the treachery and lies of countries in the region.
Syria has been under intense US pressure over its stance on a number of issues, including allegedly giving refuge to fleeing members of the Iraqi regime.
But the letter is scathing of the Syrian Government.
"While the Syrian regime embraced oppositionists who are traitors and allowed them to make contact with the CIA and Britain, it did not allow resisters to stay for a few days."
Saudi Arabia "allowed the invaders to desecrate the land of the Prophet" while Turkey "allowed US and British aircraft to kill your brothers and your country's sons for years."
There has been no conclusive evidence so far to determine whether Saddam Hussein is dead or alive, although it is the view of many Middle East analysts that he survived the US bombs and is probably still inside Iraq.
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