House Church Talk - Talking religious while murdering about 500,000 people.

[David Anderson]

Consider these words, reader, and realize that "men love darkness rather 
than light" unless and until the Lord intervenes. Lam. 5:21 "Turn thou us 
unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned."

This same principle also holds true in the lives of the occupants of 
house churches.

Realize that evil men can hide behind religious sounding words and 
ideals. Saddam spoke of heroism yet was cowardly in the end. He spoke of 
being dedicated to the service of his countrymen yet was self-serving 
beyond imagination. He spoke of faith in and submission to God but in 
works denied him.

        David Anderson

(CBS) This interview was taped on February 24, 2003, by Iraqi TV crews, 
as is standard practice for Hussein, and the Iraqis delivered a tape that 
combined all three cameras into one composite feed. However, as far as we 
can determine, the content of the interview is intact. There are places 
in the tape where two people are talking at once and there are 
repetitions. This is a transcript of that composite tape and we apologize 
if it is confusing in places. "UNINTEL" refers to a sound or word that 
the transcriber finds unintelligible. 

Rather: What do you consider to be the core issues? You said that I had 
started - and indeed, I started with the news of the day. But what do you 
consider to be the core issue, the basic issue? 

Translator For Saddam Hussein: In all divine religions, god, the 
Almighty, has reiterated to man in all his Holy Books and to humanity, in 
general, that there are two basic, most important things in life, that 
is, after the issue of the creation and of the issue of faith. 

These two important things are food and peace. This is in Islam, this is 
also in Christianity and in all the other religions. So, the most 
important thing for man in his life and the preservation of his life and 
preservation of the lives of others is to establish peace and security 
for himself and, through that, his right to life. 

Not only to obtain food, but also to obtain - to insure peace, and so 
that man can exercise his right in life and exercise his role towards 
others in the same way as he would like others to exercise their roles. 

----------------

Rather: Are you afraid of being killed or captured? 

Translator For Saddam Hussein: Whatever Allah decides. We are believers. 
We believe in what he decides. There is no value for any life without 
imam, without faith. The believers, while taking caution and care and 
trying to veer out and avoid any dangers and any traps that may be 
prepared by his enemies, in order not to fall on them, the believer still 
believes that what God decides is acceptable. (OVERTALK) 

Translator For Saddam Hussein: When we were-- 

Translator For Saddam Hussein: Bear with me. I - my - my answers are 
(UNINTEL) long. 

Rather: Mr. President, I have all night. (LAUGHTER) 

Translator For Saddam Hussein: When we were young, ordinary people inŠ 
Iraq, before, the Iraqi people had suffered a lot of deprivation and 
backwardness. People did not even find - many people did not even find. 

Male Voice: Are you satisfied with translation? 

Rather: Yes, no, the translation is excellent. It's superb. 

Translator For Saddam Hussein: Did you - people - generally did not even 
find - shoes to wear, in those days. And - people in the countryside were 
deprived of most essential things in life. And people even in the city 
were deprived of the most basic - requirements for a decent life. For a 
simple life. 

We, those days, decided to place ourselves to the service of our people, 
and I'm not going to indulge in a story about what we did for our people 
and the sacrifices that we made and the dangers that we went through in 
order to insure for our people the dignity that our people deserve, 
because this is a story well known, and I am not going to indulge into 
that. 

But in those days, we did not ask the question whether we were going to 
live or die, but we simply relied on Allah and we moved ahead. We relied 
on God because we decided that what Allah brought will be acceptable. 

The important thing, the basic thing, is that whatever Allah accepts will 
be in the service of the people and now, after having achieved all this 
march, having reached what we have reached, now we've become leaders of 
the country. Some of my comrades are ministers and vice presidents and 
the rest. We're not going to ask ourselves now whether we should change 
our course or whether we should ask about life and death. 

----------------

Rather: Do you or do you not agree, in principle, with the attack of 
9/11? 

Translator For Saddam Hussein: Let me tell you absolutely clearly: Our 
principles are not just national or pan-Arab, but they are humane 
principles. We believe in humanity. We believe that the world must seek 
to find opportunities for peace, not opportunities for war or 
opportunities for fighting or opportunities for venting or harming 
others. These are principles in which we believed before we came to 
power. And we started living on those principles and the message and with 
our people when came to power. But we believe, in accordance with what 
Allah has -- the Almighty, God Almighty -- has taught us, in the same way 
that God has taught humanity as a whole -- and whatever religion they may 
believe in -- that there must be a law governing humanity and governing 
relations in humanity, that there should not be an aggressor while others 
are silent about the aggression. There should not be a killer while those 
who watch and applaud the killing. There should not be an occupier of the 
land belonging to others while there are those who keep quiet and never 
move to remove the occupation. 

In brief, to sum up: We believe in the charter of the United States 
(Editor¹s note: although the transcription says "United States," the 
context suggests that Saddam, or the translator, may have meant to say 
"United Nations".) and that gives us the right to say that when we are 
aggressed. When we are aggressed against, it is our right to face up to 
the aggression, to confront the aggression. And the charter of the United 
Nations was not actually drafted by Muslims or the Muslim nation. It was 
drafted by Christian nations, even though we believe in it and we accept 
it and we go by its articles. 

Rather: Mr. President, have you been offered asylum anywhere? And would 
you, under any circumstances, consider going into exile to save your 
people death and destruction? 

Translator For Saddam Hussein: I can understand the motive behind your 
question, which is excitement. This is a very American style, andŠ it may 
not be liked by some, but I can understand. However, I will answer your 
question. Thank you. I was born here in Iraq. And I was born as a genuine 
(UNINTEL) believer. 

I am proud to have been born fearing God, and I have taught my children 
the value of history and the value of human stands - the stands that are 
taken on the basis of imam, taken by men, taken by everyone. The whole 
community, men and women. (OVERTALK) 

Translator For Saddam Hussein: His Excellency also said that I have been 
teaching my children the importance of -- he's proud to have been born 
here and he taught his children the importance of -- extreme importance 
of -- imam and that the part of our - her - imam heritage: That we must 
maintain the honor of nationalism and pan-Arabism. The importance of that 
is essential to the nation and to the Arab nation. 

And now, I am also teaching this to my grandchildrenŠ.I have always 
talked to the Iraqi people in this sense, since the days of our 
underground freedom fighting. I believe that any official who talks to 
his people and to others -- indeed, to humanity, in general, about 
principles and being honest and genuine in what he says about -- will not 
be -- will be very strange for him, once he's become in power, to change 
his stand. 

And then we can talk about how to protect himself. We do not change our 
position. Our position is basic. We have been born in Iraq. This is part 
of a glorious nation, a great Arab nation, and we have lived here. God 
has blessed us with -- through the Iraqi people - with a task and the 
responsibility that has brought us to this position and that we will not 
change. As for those who talk about asylum-- 

Male Voice: This is why we will also die in Iraq. Or, within the-- 

Translator For Saddam Hussein: That is why, talking about asylum, we will 
-- whoever decides to forsake his nation from whoever requests is not 
true to the principles. We will die here. We will die in this country, 
and we will maintain our honor, the honor that is required of -- in front 
of our people. 

You may have asked questions that maybe attribute to some excitement to 
the press. But, let me ask you another exciting question. Let me say 
something also exciting. I believe that whoever asks Saddam to - or 
offers Saddam asylum in his own country - is, in fact, a person without 
morals, because he will be directing an insult to the Iraqi people, the 
Iraqi people who have chosen Saddam Hussein, unanimously, to continue to 
lead the people of Iraq, and because he will be saying to the people of 
Iraq, 'Let Saddam leave and leave you without leadership.' Whoever offers 
such asylum. 

And, after all, you talk and I understand, as a journalist, this may be 
important for television. You talk, you ask such a question and, of 
course, naturally, you seek an answer. But whoever believes in faith, and 
faith that should not be manufactured by a foreign countryŠ 

----------------

Translator For Saddam Hussein: (??)ŠIt's mistaken. Fate is not made by a 
foreign country. We believe in Allah, and Allah alone decides what fate 
is going to be. However strong a country may be, however powerful, they 
cannot change the will of other people. They cannot destroy or direct the 
will of other people. I live here and we will continue to defend our 
freedom. We live here in freedom, and our people will continue to defend 
their freedom, their sanctity, their honor and their country. 

----------------

Translator For Saddam Hussein: You know that battle is not over until-- 
and only when the guns are stopped - When the national will of the people 
completely succumbs to all that the aggressor wants to see done. Air 
supremacy and missile supremacy is not enough. But in the final analy-- 
analysis, the guns will continue to tell the tale of a courageous people, 
defending with its own fighters.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/26/60II/main542151.shtml