Not to incite a riot or anything, but I found this an
interesting read. Contrary to what some may feel, I think it is
useful to at least KNOW what the opinions, thoughts of others are
In the name of God, the Merciful,
the Compassionate
From: Saddam Hussein
To: Christopher
Dear brother in the family of mankind,
I read your e-mail message of October 2nd carefully and I have
well pondered over your emotions regarding the victims of the
two towers.
All I can say is presenting my condolences to you, and to
reiterate the Muslims linguistic formula on occasion, like this:
(God has created us, and to him we return. May God give you long
life )
In a letter of reply like this, there may be no room to say all
I want, not to acquaint you with Saddam Hussein s and his
comrades in the leadership way of thinking, or of how Iraqis
think through them, and of the kind of principles they believe
in.
Nevertheless, as you have come to me to know about things, as I
understood from your message: the way my people, the Arabs and
Muslims, for whom the Arabs are a model, think. You wanted an
answer to these questions by addressing yourself to an official
in the leadership of this people, and this religion, as well as
to someone from the region, you call the Middle-East.
I may give you an explanation to what happened to the two
towers, and made America mourn, and inflicted pain and sorrow on
others, because such an event has been inflicted on other people
in the past, including Arabs and Muslims, in many cases.
I began this letter, by addressing you by the word brother ,
although you are neither Iraqi or Arab, nor a Muslim, as can be
seen by your name.
Christopher, do you know why I called you brother? Because I
never forget, that all mankind come from Adam and Eve. They are
all brothers, although they later became different nations and
adherent to different religions. Hence, to our understanding,,
we are one family within the peoples of our earth.
In this family, there is vice and virtue, good and bad people.
As long as a man safeguards his rights and duties, within
himself, and with humanity, avoids transgressing other peoples
rights, greed, and harming others, and tries to be useful to
others, only if they ask for his help, he becomes their brother.
But, when any member of this family of mankind oppresses,
exploits, unjustly wages wars on them, or lies and deceives
others, he would be acting like a devil in the form of man.
We, Arabs, have learned this, brother Christopher, before any
nation on earth. We have taught it to you, and to all the
adherents of divine religions in the Universe, because God the
Almighty, had created Adam and Eve on our land.There is no other
chronicle or religion, that pretends, or can prove the contrary.
Abraham, the friend of God and the father of all prophets, is
one of us, as are all the other prophets. Whenever, God made a
revelation, the Arabs were the people to undertake the mission
of spreading it to other non Arab nations, after believing in it
themselves. Again, I say that this the fundamental basis of the
humanitarian viewpoint of, not only Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi
people with him, but also of all Arabs, in all their great
homeland, which was divided by British and French colonialism,
and which the US is trying to halt its people s unity, and
forbid them from enjoying their rights which God bestowed on
them on their proper land.
Once again I say, that the basic general rule is that, he who
wants to avoid the harm of others, must not harm them. He who
wants to enjoy the fruits of his crops must not damage the corps
of others. In Iraq, and in the Arab rural regions, and that
could be true in different degrees, all over the world, people
would fight each other, and some of them maybe killed, but no
one ever burns the corps of others. If a criminal ever did so,
he would be considered an outcast, and his blood would be shed.
Why is such an act so severely judged, although, in comparison,
the killing of a man is much more a serious act than the burning
of corps ? This customary law in the Iraqi countryside, and
maybe in the Arab and world also, is based on two reasons:
First: a man, can think, hide, and confront others, while corps
cannot run, hide, or draw a gun on who wants to harm them.
Second: a man cannot live without corps, and for this reason,
burning his corps is equal to depriving him from his right to
live, and also, because more than one family may have a share in
these corps. The damage would be inflicted, not only on the
share of the person who is meant to be harmed. It would include
the shares of the entire family: women, children, old people, or
even young men, who can carry weapons. It is for this reason,
that our religion prohibits the killing of woman, children and
old men, as well as the uprooting of trees, when a war is
fought, by necessity, between two armies.
Do you know, brother Christopher, that your admini- stration, in
its war against the people of Iraq,has been burning not only the
cereals in silos, but even the harvest by throwing flares in
order to make Iraqi people starve?
Do you know what does this mean ? It means collective death.
Your successive administrations have killed one million and a
half Iraqis in eleven years as a result of the blockade it has
imposed on Iraq, according to statistics published international
organizations, including American humanitarian organization. You
can ask them for details, by Internet.
Food is important and holy to people, because it is related to
man s right to live. In the same way medicine has the same
sanctity. This is something we have learned from our history and
civilization which are thousands of years old, Hence I remind
you of the Crusades in 1096-1291 by which the western aggressors
came to occupy the land of Arabs, under the pretext of saving Al-
Quds from the infidel Muslims as confirmed by documents issued
by the west itself. Notice the motto, dear Christopher: Saving
Al-Quads from the infidel Muslims ! So, the Muslims are
infidels, not in the eyes of the church, but in the eyes of the
Western leaders who mobilized the nations of the West to come as
invaders to the holy land of Al-Quads, which is the land on
which landed Prophet Mohammed Peace be upon him in his divine
nocturnal journey.
An individual person in a nation, may be fanatic because of a
wrong reasoning, or awareness, but could leaders be so too?
You may say that this is something that happened a very long
time ago. But what made me mention it in my letter to you, is
what I saw, and heard of some leaders, not ordinary Western
citizens. It seems that as if those leaders have recalled all
this inventory of fanaticism and hatred of the times of the
Crusades, in which the Western leaders considered the Arabs, who
are the people of the country and the owners of the land, as
infidels who must be expelled from their land by force.
They have, now, planted the Zionist entity in our land to
replace that hatred. They have revived the memory of the old
Crusades wars by a new war of Crusades, called for by the
highest ranking rulers in your country, and in other countries
of the west.
Isn t it a paradox, and double standards, to accuse a citizen of
fanaticism, to denounce his fanatic attitude and than to
mobilize armies against him, and against the country in which he
is living, on the basis of nothing but suspicions, while waging
an outrageous campaign of hatred and fanaticism to the maximum,
which even includes calling for, and the recalling the old
Crusades wars against Arab and Muslims, as we mentioned ? !
Nevertheless it is well-known, that when the Arabs and Muslims
leader Salahdin Al-Ayoubi, was told that the leader of Crusades,
Richard, who was called the (Heart of Lion), was ill, he sent
him a doctor, and that when his horse was killed in a battle, he
refused to fight anyone before mounting another horse.
But do you know that your administration has, one way or the
other, deprived the people of Iraq from food and medicine?
Do you know the meaning of the death of one million and a half
human beings, in addition to those who are killed by bombs and
missiles?
Maybe, you and the majority of the peoples of America, do not
know that American bombardmen, and death harvest caused by
fighter jets, and missiles, are ongoing in Iraq for the last
eleven years, and have not stopped until the moment of writing
this letter? Do you know why you don t know?! Because the media
in your country which is controlled by Zionism, do not want you
to known. And because your administration, which says that it is
necessary for the peoples of the world to know, does not want
you to know. You should ask your administration, why doesn t it
speak to you about facts ? Why doesn t present you any
information except its devilish fancies ?
As for me, I can tell you why Zionism doesn t want you to know
the harm inflicted on the people of Iraq. The Zionist and the
American administration believe that it is necessary that Iraqis
die. The Jewish Albright, the former US Secretary of State,
spoke in this way, or in a similar case, when she said that the
objectives of the US foreign policy, justify the death of Iraqi
children. The reason is that the Iraqis refused the Zionist
usurpation of Arab and Palestinian territories. They refuse to
accept the crimes of occupying Palestine, the Golan, and the
Lebanese territories, and refuse do accept the Zionists
confiscation of the holy places of the believers in God,
including Muslims there.
Hence, whenever Zionism has the upper hand over high ranking
officials in America, it pushes the administration toward a
confrontation with the Arabs, and reinforces Zionist entity, at
the expense of Arab and Palestinian rights.
By the way, please ask for the videotapes to see how the Jews,
in the occupied territories, kill old men, children and women,
in front of the cameras. Do you know that all these crimes have
been perpetrated since 1935 by using Western weapons, and in
fact, American weapons in particular, weapons that cost billions
of dollars, the administration takes from American tax-payers to
be granted as an aid to the Zionist entity ?
So, the Arabs and Muslims did not cross the Atlantic, as
invaders or aggressors. They did not colonize America. It is
America that brought them all kinds of sufferings. If any of
your rulers says something different, please discuss it with
them. For example, if they say that they crossed the Atlantic to
make sure that you get your oil supplies, tell them that oil is
guaranteed by mutual interests and non-aggression, not by
aggressions, killing, violating other people s rights, and
destroying all sanctities.
If your rules say that , they crossed the Atlantic in the past
to fight Communism so that it does not invade the West, tell
them that the ex-Soviet Union has fallen apart, as has the
Warsaw Pact, although I personally don t accept the
contradiction between the call for the freedom of thinking, and
saying that the Western way of thinking is more vital and
modern, as the intellectuals and leaders of the West say, and
between fearing Communism.
Do you know, brother Christopher, that the NATO, which was
created under the pretext of confronting Communism, still
exists, and was even enlarged after the collapse of the Warsaw
Pact. Decisions of death are taken in its name, against some
peoples of the world sometimes, as was the case against
Yugoslavia, because it is an independent, and Slovak country,
and because the majority of its people are Orthodox, not because
their oppression of Muslims in Bosnia, as was claimed, to fool
the Muslims, and falsely win their support in international
forums?
If we go on, we can give thousands of examples on the blind
fanaticismexported by the West to the world with American
participation during the last 50 years. But I don t want to
burden you. I only want to tell you that the people of Iraq are
against all kinds of fanaticism, whether based on religion,
nationality or race. They are against the use of fanaticism as a
cover for harming people whom God does not accept to harm. They
call for love between the peoples and nations of the world.
Nevertheless, we do not believe in love on one side only.
Iraq has been harmed severely by the fanaticism of others,
including America. It was also severely harmed by terrorism.
Maybe you don t know that many the members of our leadership
were victims of terrorism and terrorists. Some of them escaped
death, by the will of God, after being injured or missed by the
terrorists,in addition to the pain inflicted to our people.
Do you know brother, that your administration s reaction to
that, was one of encouraging it and rejoicing ? Do you know that
your administration has been encouraging terrorism against us
for the past eleven years, calling to overthrow us by force,
allocating special funds to do so, and boasting about not
fearing God, as it publicly announces that on TV screens,
because Iraq does not have the same destructive force and
armament of America ? The Palestinians, whose right to resist
the occupation forces are guaranteed by the international law,
promulgated by America and the other big powers, are considered
terrorists because they resist the Zionist occupation of their
territories, and holy places.
Tell me, brother, if the Vatican is occupied by Arabs, or non-
Arab Muslims, wouldn t its people fight the occupying forces?
Wouldn t the English people fight for the Westminster cathedral?
Or wouldn t the French people, defend Notredame? I say they must
fight for them ! Why, then, are your armies occupying Mecca and
the land of our Prophet? Why are you occupying the regional
waters in the Arab Gulf, in addition to territories in its
countries ? Why is your ally, the Zionist entity, occupying our
holy places, and territories, in Palestine, by using your arms,
and financial, political, media, and moral support? And, why are
your administration killing people, including children in Iraq,
Afghanistan, and in Palestine now, just as it did, before that,
in Lebanon, Sudan, Somalia and Libya, and the list of Arabs and
Muslims to be killed is long ?!
I know that Arabs are far from being fanatic. Do you know why?
Because, God, the Almighty, assigned them with the mission of
delivering the messages of all religions to humanity, and not to
Arabs alone. They have fulfilled their mission, so that all
Christians are now indebted to Arabs for guiding them to Faith,
which God wanted them to have when, He made it possible for them
to reach you, or for you to reach them, so that you know what
they believe in, and be affected by it.
I know that Arabs, in general, do not adopt fanatic stances
against any people for religious reasons. But, can anyone
guarantee that one fanaticism does not create another ? Can
anyone guarantee that the death toll and killing, inflicted upon
Arabs and Muslims by the American armies, would not lead to a
counter-reaction, whether that reaction is well guided, or is a
random one, that pleases no one except those who carry it out?
These words are general rules and principles, although I still
do not know who is behind what happened to the towers on
September 11, 2001. Your government did not help me, or anyone
else, by showing, or communicating the information it possesses,
so that we can elaborate an opinion, if it needed to know the
opinion of those whose people it daily attacks with bombs,
starves to death, and deprives from the right to live,
construct, and deploy their creativity.
Our law, which is borne of our religion and heritage, and of our
reasoning which is thousands of years deep, stipulates: the
Plaintiff should present evidence and the defendant should take
an oath. But the plaintiff, which is your administration did
not present any evidence so far. Nevertheless, it accused the
people it accused, without showing us, or anyone else, any
evidence, except for Blair and the ruler of Pakistan, as they
both said. The people accused have not pleaded guilty.
Anyhow, I don t think that your administration deserves the
condolences of Iraqis, except if it presents its condolences to
the Iraqi people for the one million and a half Iraqis it
killed, and apologizes to them, for the crimes it committed
against them. As for the American people, we have sent them our
condolences through Mr. Tareq Aziz s letter to the Voices in the
Wilderness Organization Mr Ramsi Clark, the former Attorney
General, on Sept. 18,2001.
Dear brother,
He who does not want his harvest to be burned must not set fire
to the harvest of others. He, who wants to live in security,
should accept the right of others to live in security, and he
who is irritated, or raged by an aggression, should not aggress
others. He who cherishes the lives of his people, should
remember that God created all people equal at birth, in death,
and in their human values, that s why he should remember that
the lives of others are also cherished by their people. He who
strikes people with remote control missiles should expect, that
there would be someone to seek revenge, for his dignity and the
dignity of his people, and consequently does something harmful,
or fatal, by stabbing a dagger in his body, or taking his life
by a sword.
He who sees himself as a man, who revenges his dignity, should
not deprive other men from their dignity, and he who calls for
the respect of his people, men and women, should respect the
people of other nations.
He who remembers God, must not ignore or forget, that God the
Almighty, is capable of everything, and of providing the weak
with what makes those who underestimate them, make heed of their
rights and respect them.
In any case, the security of humanity is, in our view, a
responsibility on the shoulders of all good people. Any
irresponsible action on the part of superpowers may give way to
a counter irresponsible action by the people, even if the
smaller nations do not take such a course of action.
Finally there is something in your letter that you asked to be
corrected, if it was wrong about the ex President Bush, is
giving us reason to believe that he was our ally in the issue of
Kuwait, but he was forced to abide with the United-Nations .The
Fact, Mr. Christopher, is that, it was President Bush who
adopted the logic of war, right from the first day of those
events. He refused solving the problem politically, and entering
into a dialogue with us. The resolutions of the United Nations
were, in fact, adopted under pressure from Bush and his
administration. He then waged the war against Iraq, in a way
that had nothing to do with the issue of Kuwait. His objective
was to destroy all Iraq, and to deprive its people of the
edifice they built, in several decades, and not merely getting
the Iraqi armed forces out of Kuwait. He did that in 1991, and
he later committed similar things, and he and his
administration, are still doing so under different pretexts and
justifications.
Wishing that you will have the opportunity to see the fact as
they are, and not as your administration present them,
Yours truly
Saddam Hussein
Baghdad, Shabban 2,1422 H.
Oct. 18, 2001