The Hindu : Saddam hopes there will be no war

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 18, 2003

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Saddam hopes there will be no war

BAGHDAD MARCH 17. The Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, said today that he hoped there would be no war against his country even as he renewed his pledge to defeat the United States if it attacked, Iraqi television reported.

"We hope that the war will not take place, thanks be to God, because we do not need to test the resistance and courage of our people," he was quoted as saying by state television, after receiving the Tunisian Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia.

"We are ready to sacrifice our souls, our children and our families so as not to give up Iraq. We say this so no one will think that America is capable of breaking the will of the Iraqis with its weapons," he said. "If the evil (the war) were to come, we would defeat (the U.S.)."

Mr. Hussein's comments came as the U.S. declared that diplomacy on the Iraq crisis was over, clearing the way to apparently imminent military action.

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