A new message apparently from Saddam Hussein was aired on the Arab television station Al-Jazeera on Friday. In the audiotape, the speaker said that he is in Iraq directing attacks on American forces and he urged Iraqis to help the resistance against the U.S.-led occupation.
"Oh brothers and sisters, I relay to you good news: Jihad cells and brigades have been formed," the speaker on the audiotape said, addressing the Iraqi people.
According to experts, the voice contained characteristics similar to Saddam's style of speech.
In the audiotape, the speaker gives the date of taping as June 14 and says: "People have been asking why they haven't heard the voice of Saddam Hussein. We face a lot of trouble in getting our voice to you even though we have been trying."
The speaker defends the quick fall of Saddam's regime during the U.S.-led invasion in March and April, saying it was a necessary retreat, and urges Iraqis to help insurgents.
"No to surrender and no to cooperation" with the Americans, he said. "I call upon you to protect these heroic fighters and not give the invaders any information about them or their whereabouts during their operations.
"There is resistance and I know you are hearing about this. Not a day passes without them (suffering) losses in our great land thanks to our great mujahedeen. The coming days will, God willing, be days of hardship and trouble for the infidel invaders," the speaker said.
The speaker on the tape said that he is still in Iraq "among my people" along with a small group of his "companions." He said he had been forced to "sacrifice" the government as U.S. troops moved in.
"We fulfilled our obligations to you and sacrificed what we had to, except our values, which are based on our deep faith and honor. We did not stab our people or our nation in the back," he said.
"We refused to hold onto power if that meant submitting to the American threats."
He also dismissed U.S. claims that Iraq had biological, chemical and possibly nuclear weapons programs and was prepared to use them. "They aim to destroy Iraq, and what they called the weapons of mass destruction was nothing but a cover for their plans," said the man claiming to be Saddam. "I ask the invaders, where are these weapons of mass destruction?"
Meanwhile, U.S. troops killed 11 Iraqis who ambushed a convoy outside Baghdad on Friday. The ambush came hours after mortars hit a nearby base, wounding 19 U.S. soldiers, and a sniper shot and killed an American soldier guarding the Baghdad museum, the military said.
The ambush Friday came on a highway near Balad, some 90 kilometers north of Baghdad, when 11 men attacked a convoy with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire, the military said. Soldiers of the Army's 4th Infantry Division fired back, killing all the men. (Albawaba.com)
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