BAGHDAD, Iraq - President Bush's stand on Iraq will throw the Middle East into turmoil, but Saddam Hussein's nation will not be a pushover if American forces choose to strike Iraq, state-run Iraqi television said yesterday.
"Regardless of the prattles delivered by Bush during his ignorant speech to the [United Nations] General Assembly, we say that Bush's evil whims to ignite a war under the pretext of combating terrorism reflects his irresponsible attitude to humanity," the state-run Iraqi station said. It did not carry Bush's speech.
The Iraqi satellite station warned that any U.S. attack on Iraq would "lead the Mideast region into a state of turmoil, and the United States will pay a high price because Iraq is not an easy prey."
"Iraqis will give a fierce and merciless fight against those who would dare to infringe its security," the station said, adding that Bush provided no evidence for his accusations against Iraq.
Ordinary Iraqis could hear Bush's speech on short-wave radio. Satellite dishes are banned in Iraq, so the pan-Arab station Al-Jazeera's live broadcast of the speech was unavailable.
An exiled Iraqi dissident said the world should rally behind Bush's declaration.
"The speech for the first time made it clear that the U.S. is committed to defending the basic human right of the Iraqi people and their right to live in peace and dignity without coercion and suppression," Hamid al-Bayati, a spokesman for the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said in a telephone interview from London. "We call on world nations to follow suit."
Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, head of the Iran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, called Bush's speech "an important step in the American political discourse" on Iraq. "But such talk is coming somewhat late, and what was mentioned is only part of what is going on in Iraq. The tragedy is much greater than that," al-Hakim said in a statement sent to the Associated Press in Egypt.
"Regardless of the prattles delivered by Bush during his ignorant speech to the [United Nations] General Assembly, we say that Bush's evil whims to ignite a war under the pretext of combating terrorism reflects his irresponsible attitude to humanity," the state-run Iraqi station said. It did not carry Bush's speech.
The Iraqi satellite station warned that any U.S. attack on Iraq would "lead the Mideast region into a state of turmoil, and the United States will pay a high price because Iraq is not an easy prey."
"Iraqis will give a fierce and merciless fight against those who would dare to infringe its security," the station said, adding that Bush provided no evidence for his accusations against Iraq.
Ordinary Iraqis could hear Bush's speech on short-wave radio. Satellite dishes are banned in Iraq, so the pan-Arab station Al-Jazeera's live broadcast of the speech was unavailable.
An exiled Iraqi dissident said the world should rally behind Bush's declaration.
"The speech for the first time made it clear that the U.S. is committed to defending the basic human right of the Iraqi people and their right to live in peace and dignity without coercion and suppression," Hamid al-Bayati, a spokesman for the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said in a telephone interview from London. "We call on world nations to follow suit."
Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, head of the Iran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, called Bush's speech "an important step in the American political discourse" on Iraq. "But such talk is coming somewhat late, and what was mentioned is only part of what is going on in Iraq. The tragedy is much greater than that," al-Hakim said in a statement sent to the Associated Press in Egypt.