ITN Exclusive: Saddam Hussein Interviewed on the Eve of the Gulf War (1990)

foreign [Music] [Music] Mr President the invasion of a neighboring country with such calculated force and brutality is a very unarab thing to do isn't it hello would it be an English thing then if it's not an Arab thing to do will it be a British way I don't think it would be a British way Mr President but I'm asking whether it's not an unarab thing to do any let's agree that any aggressive act or any Act of aggression is not any of our traits it's not a characteristic of us but it is characteristic of us to repel aggression okay the lady hustle and no what happened was that the ruling family in Kuwait conspired against us as the method to be harmful as Merchants themselves they knew that they're they're good at black men they're good at exploitation and they're good at destroying their opponents the party they want to harm but Mr President the fact is that before August the 2nd Kuwait was an independent country and a member of the United Nations that's right we do not deny this with regard to the general election besides these facts or in addition to these facts there are other facts even to Shakil which all said which also constitute legal and historical background which may stand opposite to this argument if we ask the international public opinion in general was it legal for the this part of Iraq to have been severed from Iraq in 1913 was it in accordance with the law but it was done according with the with the law that says might is right and if we leave things aside so that we can we may not be dragged into talking about the backgrounds uh in the manner that we refer to foreign U.S conspiracy here first warning ham was given in May of this year tomorrow here in Baghdad when we had the Arab Summit conference attended and the warning was expressed in front of all Arab heads of States Kings and presidents we said to him that what you were doing to us was an act of wars and if you do not mean to wage war against this then you've got to retract from doing what you're doing otherwise if you persist we are going to consider it as War being waged against us and this is a warning that was issued in front of cameras and it has been recorded both in picture and in sound and it was giving in front of all the heads of states and the third warning it was given in in a speech addressed by Saddam Hussein in midst of July and as well as in a memorandum presented to the league of Arab states also in mid-july foreign so whoever wages an attack against you and you have warned him or them against persisting in waging such an attack then you are left with no other alternative but to seek other means um perpetrating or containing such an attack and we said in our uh July warning to them that if you do not talked or stop this conspiracy against us then we would have to choose other means of stopping it and this is what had to be done in order to rectify things at any rate these matters in order to bring them or to come to some mutual mutually acceptable uh human human understanding or human understanding about them let us we must rather we must choose or take or adopt a single criteria yeah because if we adopt double standards or uh criteria that are not uniform different standards in addressing these matters [Music] we are going to fall into error muscle for instance when you ask can is it acceptable for a state to attack another state obviously the answer is no when I can but uh each issue is to be addressed in accordance with itself the second of August issue must also be taken against its own background you know for instance then bring extra Duality America that amongst the countries that have historically perpetrated more aggressions against any other against other states are to the United States and Britain but if we were to ask the officials in the United States or in Britain about why those aggressions were perpetrated their reply would say well those things happened according to their own backgrounds so if such a reply would be the right one or acceptable so if such a reply would be uh acceptable or the right one then second of August the issue must also be addressed in this way because it has to be addressed according to its own background uh which would mean that we would reach correct and the right conclusions Mr President when your troops invaded Kuwait went into Kuwait did you think that the Americans would stand idly by and do nothing and this is it didn't occur to us it didn't occur to us to begin with that this would be the question the first question that should be asked but the first question in our minds but the first question in our minds was whether we were right or wrong in this particular act or that in this or that particular act which we choose to take this was our first preoccupying question and we reached a conclusion with regard to this question a very firm conclusion which was that we were correct and right in our approach in our action but now Mr President as a result of that action you have the world uniquely ranged against you even your friends the Soviets and the French they say you must get out of Kuwait because the issue of Kuwait is a complicated one and we do not presuppose that whoever has a view that we must not be accepted or wrong because the issue of Kuwait if it were to be taken on its own in isolation of its background or circumstance then it would look as if it were an act of aggression by one State against another which would make it unacceptable meaning yes there are there is a number of questions the big powers and especially also more particularly the industrialized countries they are saying this in accordance with the sort of General uh legal terms criteria and also in accordance looking at it from their own angle and in accordance with their own interests but to say that the world is Unified or United against Iraq is indeed not uh correct things this is not just our impression in the statements that and the Press of the United States and Britain statements issued by parties in the United States and Britain they themselves are sort of voicing out their concern that the unity so-called Unity against Iran is perhaps being suffering from a sort of split because in accordance with the sort of General legal terms on which they they base their Unity with regard to the Iraqi action and in accordance with which they also talked about how measures should be taken in order to respond to this action Lima there hustle and no why have we noticed or found that this sort of the so-called Unity against Iran has witnessed some steps being taken to retract the fact is that the United States and Britain Security Council into adopting safely taken resolutions against Iraq and once the states one states of the world of countries began to realize or to see or gauge things in accordance with the historical background of this issue in accordance with the history of the relationship here they began to sort of weave against the witness changes into their attitudes in accordance in accordance with the this with this background then we began to witness some differences in and and the attitudes in accordance with the interests of the countries and also with what is practical as seen by the there are no splits in the security Council resolutions there are no splits at all there are no changes all the countries say Iraq must withdraw from Kuwait Lyn is I didn't say that there is a split in the in that is in their position it is this is being said in the West they are saying that there is a spirit what is important to us Arab I'm Muslim as Arabs as well as as well as Muslims who is what is important to us is that dialogue is for dialogue to be conducted with us and there and then for Resolutions to be adopted you will notice now that the security Council has now adopted almost 10 resolutions so far no dialogue no deep dialogue has ever been conducted with us lacking um but in order to take a doctor resolution blaming Israel foreign foreign against the Palestinians the security Council went into debates and debates in order to adopt that very mild resolution against Israel and not only that but it's good also we also witnessed the visit made by the British foreign minister to Israel in order to negotiate with Israelis perhaps even beg the Israeli the Israelis appeals or appeal to them to accept this resolution and in spite of all this Israel continued to reject the resolution the very mild resolution adopted by the security Council against against it so you see this is the kind of double standard that can be seen in the behavior here of the security Council towards two issues the difference of time between which is only a matter of two and a half months by countries that claim to themselves as being great countries great powers powers that are democratic powers that work for the for freedom and liberty to Prevail in the world you see an irony there between these two two situations let me give you another example foreign occupied Palestine along with the other Arab the other occupied directories and when it annexed Jerusalem airports by officially by official decree how many countries of the world supported this these Israeli decisions or act not many countries of the world what happened but nothing happened Jerusalem is still occupied according to an Israeli decree an actor Elizabeth double standards clearly there in the behavior towards the Arabs and towards Muslims don't you find they measure the high degree of double standards Industries Western administrations against the Arabs and the Muslims but surely Mr President what the Israelis did is no measure of what a country like Iraq should do and the fact is that the world now says that you must leave Kuwait are you prepared to do that will you do that we are ready to enter into a deep dialogue as to the requirements for security in our region the United States was officially warned by us in towards the end of 1989. that we want them that that they should stop perpetrating conspiracies against us because we had become certain that conspiracies were being perpetrated against us according to this this is documented and we were firmly sure about that um and the United States was also warned by Arab heads of states and the warning was conveyed to President Bush himself in person in June last [Music] he was warned against the dangers that would would result from their conspiracies against the personal life of Saddam Hussein do you know why this was done no I do not for Israel to continue occupying Arab lands and turning the Palestinians into a homeless people and treating them in the bad way and and just the way that it is doing and because Iraq continues to demand but for uh dignity it's prosperity and happiness for the Arabs and Muslims and and because Iraq calls for the wealth that is being squandered in the in the in the wrong places to be geared towards the benefit of the Arabs and the Muslims things or matters where this complicated as long as this the issue is so complicated why is it that part is concerned and the world is not sitting down to conduct dialogue to talk in order to resolve all the problems connected with this situation and find the right Solutions the solutions that would bring real genuine peace to the area area and establish stability from stability for it therefore you see that we call for a dialogue in order to find a comprehensive solution to all the problems of the region these problems these problems are interconnected and we have we announced an initiative to to that effect on the 12th of August well Mr President the answer to that is uh that the the world says that you must withdraw first from Kuwait but may I ask you may I put another question to you how has the invasion of Kuwait helped the Palestinians because it's put them in a totally impossible position and it hasn't helped them at all foreign what is happening now um there has been a deep change happening since the 2nd of August on the level of the international public opinion and particularly amongst high-ranking or big officials who are not really in political power you see now there is talk of the interconnection or interrelatedness between economic political social issues in the region for the first time or you hear talk in a deep way and in a case of the reflections that the issue of Palestine has on all the other issues of the region in a concentrated and deep manner in which people are saying that unless the problem of Palestine is resolved for so foreign close to being in the Forefront of the issues and once it is there in the Forefront necessary then it will be become incumbent or imperative that this particular issue shall acquire the significance and the attention of being the first the attention that will be given to this issue will be will be compatible with its place with the way I'm describing it and the solutions for it in the manner that will be compatible with the weight of this description this is first second thing foreign you cannot really prevent or hold the thief from doing his robbery or committing his robbery as long as there is in your own house a traitor and it's someone who is collaborating with the thief for that theft robbery to take place so if there is in the Arab Islamic house NASA we're prepared to sink into Vice as deeply as the ruling family of Kuwait used to to do women and not only the ruling family earthquake but those others who are of of their kind of America and also collaborating with the United States and Zionism against the question of Palestine against the cause of the Palestinians so how can we imagine that the world is is going in any way to pay any attention to the question of Palestine but surely Mr President you can't be seriously telling me that Kuwait was invaded by Iraq to help the Palestinian cause foreign everything every word I have said was a serious one another thing I said was yes and I mean to say in the manner that you understood me clearly I'm saying to you clearly in the manner that I have that I think you understood which is that the conspiracy perpetrated by the rulers of Kuwait initially against this wouldn't have been perpetrated had Iraq not adopted the position it did with regard to the Palestinian question the right hack in order to give you a some a proof or some evidence which will comfort you which will satisfy you [Music] sauti Lee [Music] I shall provide you with a sand recording of a conversation conducted of this with the King fed telegram a telephone conversation foreign a telephone conversation which was made early in July on the 9th of July to be exactly an app which is prior of course to the second of August before it had that fee heblm and the milk of Saddam Hussein in Israel recording which will show you how King Fahad was talking with some pain about the position adopted by Saddam Hussein towards Israel foreign of Egypt as a good man because he has adopted a different stand towards Israel foreign foreign through this I can I shall I will have provided you with some evidence as to how interrelated the issue of Palestine with the overall security of the region and indeed of the security with the security of certain people there in this region Mr President I'd like to move the discussion on a little bit how can you justify the atrocities committed by Iraqi troops in Kuwait in your name is have you seen these atrocities yourself or any of them I have not seen these but may I quote you some reports Mr President one report speaks of scores of people being tortured and hanged at Kuwait University for opposing the annexation of their country another report speaks of 15 year old boys being shot an American woman married to a Kuwait he talks about a pregnant woman being disemboweled these reports have been coming out of Kuwait for some time do you do you know about these reports do they worry you have you heard about them and then Mark could be in any limits what is certain is that I have not heard of any of such acts being done foreign daily with lies about the situation then but same notion it is possible also that some false report may come out of Kuwait claiming or alleging the sort of things being done that you have described but let me say something to you now there is in the province of Kuwait iative the the the there is an instruction which is valid there whoever opens fire at our soldiers they will open fire back they will respond and they could they will kill whoever they will shoot to come at the same time any Iraqi if belonging from Baghdad red-handed he will be uh tried he will be prosecuted dictates the death sentence in such instances or any other Province uh mandur second shab fill Kuwait I haven't have in fact been sentenced to death because they have committed robbery against the houses of people in the province of Kuwait hustle this has happened why we does the Western press ignore this fact because it has been ignored because it reflects the just disciplined manner in our position Mr President these reports of atrocities as you see are encouraged by the fact that you have sealed Kuwait off from the rest of the world why don't you let us go in and see for ourselves whether these reports are true yes you're right your party right there partly right there where I can love it and this but you must remember that the province of Kuwait is now at a military Target for the U.S forces there and for the forces that are that have Allied themselves so this the whole province of Kuwait as well as the approaches to the province of Kuwait are now being prepared as a sort of full-fledged theater Battlefield theater in order to in in in anticipation of any uh offensive that may be uh waged uh any attack and no forces and you will know that in under such circumstances usually take measures which include the prevention of journalists from coming too close to uh military installations militaries and British people for instance would know such details fully well because they lived it during the second World War can I move the discussion on to another subject Mr President does it worry you that the term Iraqi guest has now come to mean detaining people or detaining a person against his will know it is certain that Zeke kind of hospitality that we are extending it would be difficult to understand the true meaning of this Hospitality would be difficult to understand in that sentence because of the fact that foreigners that are here now as guests are prevented from going from traveling and they are being hosted against their world in installations in vital installations here in our country the purpose of which or the objective of which is to try and hold any acts that may be perpetrated against these places and then halt the war this is a measure that has not just been taken here in Iraq I mean this is not the first time for instance in America you must know the United States during the second world war but even its own citizens of Japanese origin into special encampments which meant actually that they were detained in these encampments with without not enjoying their full Freedom come on don't think I have doubts whether the United States at the time treated those people in the in the Japanese encampments in the in the Gentle Way as gently as we are treating our guests the British why are we calling these people guess yeah no other because apart from the fact that part of their Liberty is being hoarded from them is it's not being given to them they are being granted every way of hospitality that that the government can can give and if you see some of the requests that have been sent to us by them you would see for yourself and detail about some of these requests the kind of treatment that they are receiving we should be a reflection of the kind of situation they are living and in spite of the fact that we are living in a rather special sort of circumstance but in any case we will we usually Grant all their requests Mr President they don't uh I'm sure they're pleased with your hospitality but they don't want hospitality they want their freedom and they're charged that you are violating their fundamental human rights and keeping them here in in not allowing them to leave that's what they want their freedom exactly and it is exactly what we wish for them we agree with with that we agree with what they want we are not perturbed by their it's the factor that have that has brought things to the level now this is the problem we asked ourselves and we came to uh the conclusion as to how to impede any um enthusiastic any um unwise Act Ive any Hasty unwise act and how we should create the right opportunity the chance for dialogue and and and and understanding to have its its chance so we have done a lot we have done a great deal and amongst the things that we thought would be useful was for us to try to to prevent a number of the foreigners from traveling I say a number because you see that we let the women and children we let them go with all the a care and attention that was that we could provide for them and whenever whenever we felt that dialogue and reason were began to sort of surface or find its way through or keep its way through even though it's not really very easy you see that Muhammad whatever we feel that this is happening in any way we would take measures to let some of them go and with regard to Britain the most recent example was uh done when Mr Heath was a few the guests whom you call or describe as hostages if you ask them back home those who went back with Mr Heath or the group that went missed did Iraq ask anything in return for their release then the reply would be no that nothing when Iraq does this means obviously that they are not hostages did Iraq or the Iraqis charge you with anything while you were there prevent it from travel well um did the Iraqi authorities or where you ever interrogated Iraq they would say no so they are not prisoners so the description the description of these people to describe these people as either hostages or prisoners wouldn't wouldn't apply actually oh again the to describe them as guests may not be fully applicable in the critical manner or in the critical approach which you have adopted in your question well it was not intended to be a particularly critical approach Mr President it was intended again to refer you to Islamic tradition guests are allowed to come and go as they please yes they are allowed to come and they are allowed to go well I can is but if a certain circumstance dictates dictates it or calls for it then they may not be allowed to go immediately Mr President Mrs Thatcher of Great Britain says that even if you withdraw from Kuwait you must be made to pay compensation for the damage that you have caused there do you take that warning seriously she says you have been warned foreign foreign [Music] you are a man a in a in a very special position in the service of Truth I'm and I'm a man oh yes I belong to the Middle East but I also know things and maybe there are people in the British Administration who do not who disdain this description we do not respect this description but I um well informed I am support in saying this it's not really uh no facial in there in any other country has issued any statement what Mr Saturn has said so my matters and I like this now the situation is like this is [Music] took her suitcase and tried and flew to Mr Bush and they met alone they had a private session or maybe a meeting attended by others I don't know and they decided and yes they decided to invade this territories of sacred places the territories that are sacred to both the Arabs and the Muslims and of course they announced that they were coming here in order to defend Saudi Arabia against the against any Iraqi danger and of course there there was a big lie there and then after that they appealed to the world they called on the World to support them parts of the world supported them and some didn't some uh refused some kept quiet and some parties were threatened by Mrs stature directly we read her threats and they were threatened by Mr Bush too and we read those threats and they were threatened by the ministers or the secretaries of states of both Mrs bushes Italy Japan and Germany where uh not small countries there's big countries and they were threatened I have how can you expect the them to respect the animals they do not respect Italy um when they they want to talk to them in the field of in the military Financial economic field through the radio how can you expect them to respect countries of the Arab world and this Muslim world didn't you read these things I am the helpless I'm a helpless citizen of the Middle East uh foreign yes helpless yeah use the word a word which we need to be very specific about I used helpless to describe it but I wasn't really very certain about it what he meant was that we are people who are not weak in ourselves because we have the strength of God behind us but who may be looked by others to be weak we sort of looked uh of you to be weaked by others from what you said this evening you have no intentions of withdrawing your troops from Kuwait does that mean that this region is on the brink of another devastating War S I talked about the importance of a comprehensive approach of the comprehensive comprehensive approach to all issues in the region and not the fragmented sort of approach and I talked about the importance of dialogue replacing the the approach of dialogue replacing the approach of the arms and the the importance of allowing security trust to replace threats and intimidation well and you stage and the importance to respond of responding to reason rather than to jerky hastily taking decisions if all parties concerned where to remember the importance of these facts around one table we are confident that these parties will reach serious and deep solutions to all the issues in the Forefront of which will be the Palestinian question maybe is in this situation in this circumstance such as that they what the so-called Kuwaiti issue will be discussed in the right uh course of action in such a situation peace will have been achieved for everyone in the region and the region will have become very generous peoples will have become happy and we will have done International Peace a great service may God spare us Wars and the scourge of wars and mega may God spare all mankind the calamities of War to president thank you foreign [Music] foreign

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Keywords: trevor mcdonald, saddam hussein, middle east, operation desert storm, gulf war, saddam hussein capture, saddam hussein death speech english, saddam hussein laughing, saddam hussein interview, saddam hussein speech, gulf war footage 1991, gulf war footage, gulf war explained, operation desert storm footage, operation desert storm explained, saddam hussein death bbc, saddam hussein trial, saddam interview 1990, desert shield desert storm, desert shield documentary, iraq, kuwait

Id: H-2Zj86_Z9A

Length: 58min 6sec (3486 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 05 2023