Saddam Hussein's Warning About Betrayal Among Iraqi Officers - 2003-01-28

According to reports from Iraqi newspapers, Saddam Hussein, the President of Iraq, has warned his senior officers to be vigilant and alert to signs of betrayal within their ranks. The newspapers report that the Iraqi leader told army leaders and commanders in a meeting last night that he has no fear regarding betrayal, and army commanders should not be afraid of this issue, but must remain vigilant about potential traitors among their soldiers. Saddam Hussein described betrayal as an act of cowardice and a peak of human weakness and degradation. These reports come a day after Hans Blix, the head of the United Nations weapons inspection team in Iraq, stated in a Security Council meeting that there is no evidence to support Iraq's claim that it has been completely disarmed, and that the Baghdad government has not fully cooperated with the inspection process. On the other hand, Tariq Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, promised that his government would cooperate more with the United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq, but at the same time threatened that Iraqi forces would retaliate wherever American soldiers, as he put it, begin their aggression. Mr. Aziz, in an interview with Canadian television, stated that Baghdad would cooperate more with the UN weapons inspectors in the future. However, he warned that if the United States uses Kuwait as a base for military operations against Iraq, Iraqi forces might attack Kuwait. Tariq Aziz said that if an attack on Iraq begins from Kuwait, it could be considered a battlefield and a legitimate target from Baghdad's perspective.