‘Foreigners Are Occupying Your Country’

Following are excerpts from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s speech to the Kuwaiti people Saturday. The remarks were delivered in Arabic by Iraq’s information minister and translated by Associated Press.

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“We are saying what we are saying not out of weakness or as a tactic to an illegitimate end but to clarify facts as we see them.... On that basis, we apologize to God for any action that may anger the Almighty if such an action took place in the past, unbeknownst to us but considered to be our responsibility, and to you [Kuwaitis] we apologize on this basis as well. O, you brothers, what we wish for is what we are working to achieve for your brothers in Iraq: to live free, without foreign control of your destiny, will, decisions, wealth, present and future.”

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“Our behavior was prompted by so many actions starting with the joint military maneuvers in October 1989 in Kuwait under the auspices of the Americans. Then Gen. [H. Norman] Schwarzkopf, in February 1990, said that there was a need to increase the American presence in the Gulf area ... and then [Kuwait’s] lowering the prices of crude oil despite OPEC’s warning.

“For those and other reasons, it was clear to us that danger for Iraq was in the offing and that it could not be solved through political channels. Therefore, under the framework of self-protection and protecting everything that is dear, the events of Aug. 2, 1990, took place.”

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“As you can see, the foreigners are occupying your country ... and as you know, when the foreigners occupy a country, they do not only desecrate the soil but the soul, the religion and the mind.”

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“We and the people of Iraq salute those young believers who stand up to the foreign occupier with arms and those who see or believe it is a shame that requires the cleansing of the land, and of the people, by fire and other means.”