Saddam tells Iraqi to resist the invaders, say minister

Saddam tells Iraqi to resist the invaders, say minister

Agencies, Baghdad

Saddam Hussein called on Baghdad residents Friday to "resist the
invading forces" of the encroaching U.S.-British troops,
Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said on state
television on Friday.

"When the capital resists, the invaders can no longer advance
and have to retreat," Sahhaf quoted the president as saying in a
speech which claimed God was on the side of the Iraqis.

The speech, the latest in a series of calls for Iraqis to
fight in recent days, also said they were determined to defeat
the forces which have massed "at the doorstep of our capital,"
the speech said.

"Fight day and night, hit them without respite," said Saddam,
whose recent non-appearance on state television has sparked
speculation as to his whereabouts.

Saddam, who called Tuesday for jihad, or holy war, against the
invaders, said "victory was assured in advance," according to
Sahhaf.

"We believe in God and we count on him for a victory which he
has promised to believers, and that is our right."

Meanwhile, Iraq warned of "martyrdom" and other unconventional
attacks on later Friday against U.S. troops who it said were
"isolated" at Saddam International Airport on the outskirts of
the capital.

"I mean some kind of martyrdom, and there are very new ways
which we are going to carry out," said Sahhaf.

Sahhaf recalled the battle of Dien Bien Phu, a 1954 battle
which changed the course of France's war in Vietnam and led to
the surrender and defeat of the French.

"Tonight we will carry out something that is not conventional
against them, not military. It will be a great example to them,"
he told a press conference.

But the minister, whose country has insisted it does not have
weapons of mass destruction, ruled out the use of unconventional
weapons in reply to a journalist's question.

"Unless they surrender quickly, I don't think there's any
chance that they will survive," he said, referring to the U.S.
forces. "We consider it an isolated island ... They are
completely surrounded."

"In a joint effort between Iraqi people, Saddam's Fedayeen
(militia) and tribesmen ... we have the determination to keep
them in a small island, another Dien Bien Phu," he said.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, said its troops seized control
of the strategic prize of Baghdad's international airport on
Friday and were flushing out remaining pockets of resistance.

Baghdad has dismissed U.S. suggestions that Saddam is no
longer in effective control of the country he has ruled since
1979, or that he may have been killed in the thousands of
coalition air strikes since the war began on March 20.

Iraqi satellite television showed footage on Thursday evening
of President Saddam Hussein chairing a meeting of senior
ministers.

The television announcer said Saddam was discussing the state
of Iraqi troops' battle readiness as U.S.-led forces closed in on
Baghdad.

The television did not say when the meeting took place, but
said those present included Iraq's vice president and ministers
of defense and irrigation.

Saddam, in military uniform, appeared businesslike and calm.
He and his ministers seemed to be meeting in a barely furnished
room above ground, with light showing through the drawn orange
curtains.

Iraqi domestic television showed footage of the Iraqi leader
on Wednesday smiling and laughing with members of his cabinet.

Earlier on Thursday, Iraqi television said Saddam had written
a letter to his niece vowing that Iraqi forces would stop the
invaders advancing on Baghdad and would drive them out of Iraq.

Also on Thursday, Sahhaf read out a statement from Saddam
praising the defenders of Kut southeast of Baghdad where fighting
raged through the day.

But the message said nothing of a second front around the holy
Shi'ite town of Kerbala where U.S. forces advanced swiftly.

Saddam's defiant remarks came as coalition troops said they
had entered Baghdad's outer rim and almost captured Saddam
International Airport, some 20 miles (12 kilometers) from the
center of the capital.

"The Republican Guard, as well as the troops of our brave and
heroic army, are Baghdad's virtual fortifications," Saddam was
quoted as saying in his pep speech.

"You know your army's and your Republican Guard's strength
when given the opportunity to kill the enemy," he added.

A spokesman at the U.S. Central Command in Qatar said on
Friday that 2,500 Iraqi troops are reported to have surrendered
to U.S. Marines who clashed with Republican Guard units as they
advanced north on Baghdad from the town of Al-Kut.