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We are fully mobilised: Saddam

BAGHDAD Jan. 17. A defiant Saddam Hussein on Friday called on his people to rise up and defend the nation against a new United States-led attack even as the chief weapons inspector of the United Nations, Hans Blix, stated that he would seek an explanation from the Baghdad regime on the empty chemical warheads discovered on Thursday.

In a 40-minute televised address, delivered on the 12th anniversary of the Gulf War, Mr. Hussein promised that Iraq's enemies would face ``suicide'' at the gates of his capital.

His speech revealed no sign that he was prepared to bow to the demands of the United Nations nor step down as has been suggested by Arab leaders as a way to avoid war.

``The people of Baghdad have resolved to compel the Moguls of this age to commit suicide on its walls,'' Mr. Hussein said, referring to the U.S. ``Everyone who tries to climb over its walls... will fail in his attempt.''

He said the Iraqi nation was fully mobilised against the threat of a new conflict and told the U.S. President, George W. Bush, to ``keep your evil away from the mother of civilisation.''

``The whole nation will rise in defence of its right to live, its role and sacred sites, and their (aggressors') arrows will go a stray or backfire, God willing.''

In an appeal for Arab support, Mr. Hussein said ``Western peoples and circles'' had long interfered with the nations of West Asia, ``in particular Zionist Jews and Zionists who are not of the Jewish people.''

``Long live Palestine, free and Arab, from the (Mediterranean Sea) to the (Jordan) river,'' he said. Meanwhile, Mr. Blix said today that he wanted ``to have more explanations'' from Baghdad about chemical warheads found on Thursday.

He was speaking in Paris one day after his inspectors found 11 empty chemical warheads at an Iraqi munitions dump.

The Iraqis had claimed the find was not linked to any prohibited weapons, but the U.S. said it was not surprised, adding that chemical munitions were one of the areas of omission in Baghdad's declaration.

At a press conference alongside the French President, Jacques Chirac, Mr. Blix said he was not certain about whether the warheads were listed.

Deal for Saddam exile?

The German current affairs magazine, Der Spiegel, said that the Iraqi Government was seeking guarantees to allow Mr. Hussein and other Iraqi leaders to go into exile as a way to end current tension. The European Union foreign policy coordinator, Javier Solana, however, said today that he had no information about any such initiative.

"I have no information that I can give to you. I have heard the same rumours that you have," he told reporters during a visit to Greece.

The online version of Der Spiegel did not name a potential country of exile. "An African nation is being discussed," it said quoting one Western and two Arab ambassadors in Dubai.

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