Iraq, 2002

Mr. President, I would like, at

the outset, to congratulate you on your election to the

presidency of the General Assembly and would like to

express my appreciation of the United Nations

Secretary-General's eloquent statement at the opening

of this session, which gave good support to

multilateralism and international relations and exposed

the dangers of unilateralism and hegemony.

I also wish to congratulate the Swiss

Confederation on its membership and East Timor on its

prospective membership to the United Nations.

This session is held one year after the tragic

events of 11 September 2001, and I would like to

renew our condolences to the American people,

especially the families of the victims of this tragedy,

and express to them our deep sympathy.

It gives me pleasure to express my sincere

gratitude to the States of the international community

and to organizations for their substantive position

rejecting the United States Administration's threats

against Iraq and for the calls they made for a

comprehensive political solution to the impasse in the

relationship between Iraq and the Security Council.

In response to several appeals made by the United

Nations Secretary-General, peace-loving States and

regional organizations, my Government decided to

allow the return of United Nations weapons inspectors

without conditions as a first step towards a

comprehensive solution that includes the lifting of

sanctions imposed on Iraq and the timely

implementation of other provisions of relevant Security

Council resolutions, including resolution 687 (1991).

I was instructed by the President of the Republic

of Iraq, His Excellency Mr. Saddam Hussein, to convey

to you, in the allotted time, excerpts of a letter he has

addressed to the General Assembly, in which His

Excellency presents Iraq's position on the latest

developments in the relationship between Iraq and the

Security Council.

Following are excerpts from the letter:

“In his speech at the General Assembly that

was preceded and accompanied by noisy

propaganda and extensive preparation, the United

States President, instead of paying attention to

common issues of concern to humanity at large,

has presented the security problems of his own

country and the sacrifices it has suffered since the

events of September 11.

“It is a good sign that the United States

resorted, for the first time since the end of the

cold war, to the General Assembly to put forward

one of its problems, after years of disregard of the

weight, effect and opinion of others. Nevertheless,

the United States President revealed his basic

purpose when he jumped to the issue of Iraq without

any introduction or acceptable progression. He

portrayed that issue as if it were the most dangerous

situation, not only for the life, security and future of

the United States, but also for the life, future and

security of the whole world. Among his

generalizations, which included deliberate

insinuations, he presented extreme distortions of

the so-called nuclear, biological and chemical

threats, so as to make American citizens believe

the deliberate insinuation that Iraq was linked to

the American people's tragedy of 11 September.

“He seems to have assumed that the countries

of the world are unaware of the American

Administration and its methods, or of Iraq and its

high sense of responsibility toward humanity, its

desire for peace and stability, or of the fact that the

Iraqis are a creative people in work, production,

and innovation, in addition to being the heirs of

the most ancient human civilizations.

“The United States President talked about the

importance of the application of democracy on the

part of the Government of Iraq. He pretended to

care for the people of Iraq after he and other

Presidents before him have killed Iraqis by using

weapons such as depleted uranium, and by the

blockade, which is now more than twelve years old,

in which more than one million and seven hundred

thousand innocent Iraqis, out of a population of

twenty five million citizens, have died.

“So, after utilizing the American

propaganda machine for a long time and spouting

official statements full of lies, distortion, and

falsehood, the focus was basically turned on

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inciting the American public against Iraq and

pushing it to believe the United States

Administration's schemes of aggression as a fait

accompli, as if it were the solution or the necessary

rescue that would allow American citizens to live

in security and stability, after what they had gone

through in the 11 September events.

“When the United States Administration

realized that it was necessary to have an

international cover for using force against Iraq

and that the world did not believe the lies it tried

to propagate to link Iraq to the September events,

it changed the issue and began to shed crocodile

tears about international law and the necessity to

comply with the resolutions of international

legitimacy, alleging that Iraq is not complying

with Security Council resolutions, especially with

regard to the United Nations inspectors. This

implied that Iraq had the intention to develop, or

that it already possesses, nuclear, chemical and

biological weapons. According to these allegations,

it might give such weapons to terrorist organizations

that pose a threat to world security.

“Now that Iraq has accepted the return of

the United Nations inspectors, we will all be able

to see how they work. In our past experience with

these inspectors (1991-1998), Iraq used to ask the

inspection teams to do their job in accordance

with the declared goals of the Security Council.

However, some of the inspectors went on doing

intelligence and espionage work that had nothing

to do with the official mandate of the inspection

teams. Some of those inspectors have publicly

admitted this; some, including an American, are

still publicly talking about it. Even Mr. Rolf

Ekeus, the former chief of the United Nations

Special Commission (UNSCOM), has recently

stated that the inspectors overstepped the limits of

their defined duties by spying on the Iraqi

leadership. I quote: ‘The United States and other

Powers exploited the inspection teams for their

own political ends, including monitoring

President Saddam Hussein's whereabouts.' He

also said that the inspection teams deliberately

created problems to prepare the ground for

possible military attacks.

“Iraq has always defended the principles

and values that you have willingly set down in

the United Nations Charter and the purposes for

which the Security Council was created, which

are to preserve security and to establish peace.

Therefore, by confronting evil for twelve years

now, Iraq has not only been defending its own

patriotism, but rather it has acted as if it were

defending your own patriotism. It has been acting

on your behalf without being assigned to do so. In

targeting Iraq, the United States Administration is

acting on behalf of Zionism, which has been

killing the heroic people of Palestine, destroying

their property, murdering their children, and

seeking to impose their domination on the whole

world, not only militarily, but also economically

and politically.

“The United States Administration wants to

destroy Iraq in order to control Middle East oil,

and consequently control the politics as well as

the oil and economic policies of the whole world.

If it succeeds in that, God forbid, it would dictate

for each country what it needs for its economic

development, what quantities of oil it is allowed to

buy, at what prices, along with other conditions.

“Briefly, what Iraq wants is the respect of

the principles of the United Nations Charter and

international law, whether regarding its own

interests and sovereignty or those of the other

Member States of the United Nations. On this

basis, Iraq was, and still is, ready to cooperate

with the Security Council and international

organizations. However, Iraq rejects anyone's

transgression of its rights, sovereignty, security

and independence. That would be in contradiction

with the principles of the Charter and

international law.

“Hence, Iraq has not rejected the relevant

resolutions of the Security Council, even though

those that relate to Iraq are unjust and at odds

with the United Nations Charter and international

law. Iraq rather calls on members of the Security

Council, and on the United States Administration

in particular, to respect their own obligations

under the Charter, under international law and the

relevant Security Council resolutions. Iraq

demands that its inalienable rights, stipulated in

those very resolutions, be met, including respect

of its sovereignty and security, lifting the

blockade imposed on it, and applying paragraph

14 of Resolution 687 (1991) to the Zionist entity,

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as stipulated in the text and in the same manner as

it was applied to Iraq.

“I hereby declare before you that Iraq is

totally clear of all nuclear, chemical and

biological weapons. If there are anyone amongst

you who might still worry that the fabrications

announced by American officials about Iraq may

possibly be true, our country is ready to receive

any scientific experts accompanied by politicians

you choose to represent any one of your countries

to tell us which places and scientific and

industrial installations they would wish to see,

particularly those about which the American

officials have been fabricating false stories,

alleging that they contain prohibited materials or

activities. If such experts and politicians visit

Iraq, we shall provide them with all the facilities

they need to achieve their objective, that is, to see

the true facts as they are.

“As what matters for us basically is that our

rights, sovereignty and security be respected in

accordance with international law, we have

accepted the return of the inspection teams to

Iraq, taking into consideration the arrangements

that should safeguard these principles and

achieve, with transparency, the goal of making

sure that Iraq no longer possesses nuclear,

biological and chemical weapons of mass

destruction. Along with you, we are waiting to see.

“The blockade imposed upon Iraq has been

in place for more than 12 years now, during

which time our assets and oil revenues have been

frozen and we have been unable to use them

except through an inefficient United Nations-run

system that has already proven to be unfeasible.

Substantial amounts of our revenues have been

illegitimately seized in a manner tantamount to

looting and contrary to the principles enshrined in

the United Nations Charter.

“We therefore call for a discussion of the

issue of the inspection teams in accordance with

international law. That should be done on a

comprehensive basis with a discussion of Iraq's

obligations, including the issue of the inspection

teams as well as the obligations of the Security

Council towards Iraq, as stated in the resolutions

themselves, particularly resolution 687 (1991).

Reciprocal obligations exist of which the Security

Council has implemented nothing, including the

obligation to respect Iraq's sovereignty, which is

being violated by America and Britain on a daily

basis through their ongoing aggression and the

artificially drawn parallel latitude lines over

northern and southern Iraq.

“You may notice how the policy of the

Zionist entity, which has usurped Palestine and

other Arab territories since 1948, and afterwards,

has now become as one with the policies and

capabilities of the United States.

“The United States Administration has been

making up problems with Iraq in order to derail

the application of paragraph 14 of resolution 687

(1991) and to prevent the Security Council from

lifting the blockade imposed on Iraq. The reason

lies in the fact that the counter-obligations under

relevant resolutions of the Security Council,

including resolution 687 (1991) of 3 April 1991,

contain a clear paragraph demanding that the

Middle East be made a zone free from weapons of

mass destruction. Thus the American

Administration does not want to embarrass the

Zionist entity or deprive it of the nuclear,

chemical and biological weapons it actually

possesses. It is also because the United States

Administration is aware that Iraq has indeed

honoured all its obligations and is demanding,

along with other Arab countries, that paragraph

14 be applied to the Zionist entity.

“Iraq has been keen to see the inspection

issue discussed between the Security Council and

Iraq, through the United Nations Secretary-

General and the representatives of Iraq, with a

view to reaching a balanced formula based on the

principles of the Charter and the relevant

resolutions of the Security Council, and within a

comprehensive solution which should bring to an

end the cyclone of American accusations and

fabricated crises against Iraq. At the same time,

this would reassure Iraq with regard to its

security, sovereignty, territorial integrity and its

right to choose its own way without interference,

in accordance with the rules established in the

Charter of the United Nations.

“The United States President said in his

speech that Iraq is providing financial support to

the Palestinian people. My comment is that this is

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correct. Yet we feel that the support we have

extended has not been as great as we would have

hoped, because of the circumstances which have

curtailed our means. In extending this support, we

act in accordance with the United Nations Charter

and the resolutions of the Assembly, in which the

national struggle of peoples against occupation

and colonialism is considered to be an inalienable

national right.

“But what grounds does America and its

Presidents have to support the Zionist entity,

which has been occupying Palestine and other

Arab territories and committing its criminal

policy of killing Palestinians, destroying their

property and encroaching upon, and destroying,

the holy places of Muslims and Christians there?

What principles and what laws does the American

President rely on in killing Iraqis, blockading

their country, destroying their property and

interfering in their internal affairs?”