Shunpiking Online Vo.4 No.1 Letter to Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein said his execution would be a "sacrifice for Iraq" and called on Iraqis to unite and fight U.S. forces, in a letter written shortly after the initial verdict on November 5. The letter was published on the website of the Baath Party on December 27. Associated Press reports that its authenticity was verified by a member of his legal team, lawyer Issam Ghazzawi. In the letter he states that he was writing because his lawyers had told him the court would give him an opportunity to make a final statement.

"But that court and its chief judge did not give us the chance to say a word, and issued its verdict without explanation and read out the sentence - dictated by the invaders - without presenting the evidence," it said.

"Here I offer myself in sacrifice. If God almighty wishes, it (my soul) will take me where he orders to be with the martyrs," Mr Hussein said in the handwritten letter obtained from his defense lawyers in Jordan.

"If my soul goes down this path (of martyrdom) it will face God in serenity."

"You have known your brother and leader as you have known your own family. He has not bowed down to the tyrants and remained a sword against them," the letter reads.

"Oh great people, I call on you to preserve the values that enabled you to be worthy of carrying out shouldering the faith and to be the light of civilization," the letter said.

"Your unity stands against falling into servitude." Saddam added: "Oh brave, pious Iraqis in the heroic resistance. Oh sons of the one nation, direct your enmity toward the invaders. Do not let them divide you ... Long live jihad (holy war) and the mujahdeen against the invaders."

He also called on the Iraqi people "not to hate because hate does not leave space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking. I also call on you not to hate the people of the other countries that attacked us.

"You should know that among the aggressors, there are people who support your struggle against the invaders, and some of them volunteered for the legal defense of prisoners, including Saddam Hussein," referring to former U.S. attorney Ramsay Clark, a member of Saddam's defense team. "Others revealed the scandals of the aggressors and condemned them," the letter said.

(Sources: Sabah, Associated Press)