Letter From Saddam Hussein Offers Final Message To The World
Posted December 27, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
But a missive purported to be penned by the former Iraqi dictator has been circulated on the Internet and it contains a surprising plea for understanding.
It was published Wednesday on the Baath party’s website and represents what the strongman calls his final words. He’s scheduled to be executed within the next 30 days, a fate that was sealed on Tuesday when a court turned down his last appeal.
The message has taken many by surprise.
“I call on you 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,” it reads. “I also call on you not to hate the people of the other countries that attacked us,” a clear reference to the U.S.
But it’s apparent Saddam’s Baathists don’t intend to follow his plea.
” Our party warns again of the results of carrying out such a verdict, on the situation in Iraq and America in particular,” reads a statement posted on the Internet. “It is the most dangerous red line that the American administration should not cross.”
Saddam claims he received a promise from the court that he would be allowed to speak his last message in public, but maintains he was never given the opportunity in open court.
So he convinced his lawyers this would be the only way to get his famous last words out.
“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 avers.
He also insists he’s ready to die for the cause.
“Here I offer myself in sacrifice,” he says. “If God almighty wishes, it (my soul) will take me where he orders to be with the martyrs. If my soul goes down this path (of martyrdom) it will face God in serenity.”
Saddam’s letter
“Dear faithful people: I say goodbye to you, but I will be with the merciful God who helps those who take refuge in him and who will never disappoint any honest believer.”
The letter, which his lawyers confirm is authentic, was written on November 5th – the same day Saddam was sentenced to hang for the 1982 killings of 148 people in a Shiite Muslim town after an attempt was made on his life there.
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