Iraq prays for victory as Muslim holy month begins
Dawn breaks in Baghdad at the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan
December 19, 1998
Web posted at: 6:06 a.m. EDT (1006 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqis emerged from the bomb shelters of Baghdad Saturday to pray for victory against the United States and Britain at the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
Their prayers came as U.S. President Bill Clinton pre- recorded a video-taped address to be released later Saturday with a reassuring message to the Iraqi people.
"Oh merciful God save us, grant us victory and don't let our enemies defeat us," about three dozen Iraqis -- their hands raised to the heavens -- recited after the prayer leader, or imam, at the Haj Mazhar Ahmed al-Samerai mosque.
The faithful, all men, had just climbed out of bomb shelters and headed to the mosque in response to the call for dawn prayers.
Only minutes earlier they had endured the fiercest bombardment of central Baghdad in three nights of U.S. and British air strikes.
U.S. Defense Department officials said late Friday the attacks against Iraq could end within hours, but a final decision would not be made until Clinton met with his national security team.
Ramadan was a key element in the timing of the raids on Iraq as Clinton was concerned over the offense it might cause the Muslim world.
Powerful explosions shook the Iraqi capital at about 4 a.m.local time on Saturday (8 p.m. EST Friday), about 2 1/2 hours after an initial, less intense attack. Anti-aircraft batteries roared into action, firing bright red tracers into the night sky.
CNN correspondent Brent Sadler reported seeing a cruise missile flying through a barrage of anti-aircraft fire, a few hundred feet from his position in central Baghdad.
Bright flashes accompanied the blasts, illuminating the city in bursts of yellow light. Some were so strong, Sadler said they "blew me back from my window."
"I'm now seeing many detonations," Sadler said. "There's one huge fireball nearby and I can see several plumes of smoke from still other detonations."
Sadler also revealed new details of casualties from the attacks.
He reported that Iraqi officials were now claiming the 25 people they had confirmed killed in the attacks were all inside a Baghdad hospital struck during the first day of the U.S.-led assault.
The officials said two hospitals elsewhere in the country were also hit but no updated casualty figure could be provided because of communications difficulties in the country.
Baath HQ under fire
Witnesses on Saturday confirmed the pan-Arab headquarters of Iraq's ruling Baath Party was hit and badly damaged during the airstrikes
The two main buildings of the Baath Party complex in Baghdad's Qadissiya district received direct missile hits. There was no movement inside the complex, which appeared to have been abandoned at the time of the attack, and no word on casualties.
The buildings hit were different to the Baath offices U.N. inspectors were refused access to earlier this month.
It was the third night of airstrikes that the Pentagon claimed were seriously damaging Iraqi air defenses, military command posts and missile plants.
Clinton and his national security team plan to meet on Saturday to assess the damage of the airstrikes, and to determine if the attack will continue.
In an interview with CNN, U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen would not specify what sites were targeted in the Saturday morning strike. But he said he was pleased with the effectiveness of the past two nights of air assaults on Iraq.
"There are always going to be some misses, and that's to be expected. But I am satisfied with the rate to date of the hits that have been achieved ... with minimum amount of damage to surrounding areas or to innocent civilians," he said.
Cohen said earlier Friday he had received no reports of U.S. or British casualties.
More than 200 strike and strike-support sorties were flown Thursday, including the first combat flights of the B-1 bomber, said Gen. Hugh Shelton, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He said the attacks had focused on 75 targets so far, including an oil refinery in Basra.
But Clinton administration officials said they do not plan to strike sites suspected of hiding weapons of mass destruction because bombing them might release deadly poisons and cause civilian casualties.
Instead, U.S. and British forces are targeting facilities believed to be used to develop or support Iraq's weapons programs.
New satellite photographs released by the Pentagon showed that U.S. and British missiles had hit an Iraqi missile research and development center.
U.S. military officials also showed video of the bombing of a "critical (Iraqi) communications facility."
According to Pentagon officials, " ... it could be days, or even weeks" before they can fully assess damage from the airstrikes. More details from Friday's Pentagon briefing.
Hussein: 'We will not let evil triumph'
Hussein
Before the latest attack began, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein made his first televised address to the nation since the bombing campaign began late Wednesday. He urged Iraqis and Arabs to resist the bombings and to hit the "criminals."
"We will not compromise or kneel in the face of injustice. We will not let evil triumph over virtue," Hussein said in his taped address carried by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The Iraqi leader paid tribute to the Iraqi armed forces and the air defense troops, who have been firing anti-aircraft guns at the cruise missiles raining on the capital.
"Iraq will be victorious. God damns them. Shame will be their fate, those followers of Satan and evil."
The address lasted only five minutes, and ended with the words: "Long live great Iraq, the great Arab nation and Palestine, and doomed are our enemies."
Other Iraqi officials also continued their verbal attacks on the United States and chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler.
Butler is "a chief pawn in the hands of the United States, used whenever the United States wants (to) use (him)," said Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz during a news conference.
Aziz called U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair "Zionists" and "liars" for not respecting the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
"The timing of (the bombing) coincided with the failure of (Clinton's) visit to Israel and with another incident which I don't want to mention," said Aziz. The latter reference apparently referred to the Congressional debate over whether Clinton should be impeached.
Albright: Saddam Hussein could end the bombing
Albright
Earlier Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright emphasized that Hussein still had the power to end the bombing of his nation.
It is still possible for the Iraqi leader to let the U.N. Special Commission weapons inspectors continue their work with unfettered access and hand over the necessary documentation about Iraq's weapons program, Albright told CNN.
The bombing of Baghdad began a day after Butler submitted a report claiming the Iraqis were again failing to cooperate fully with the weapons inspectors.
Albright said the policy of the United States is to contain Hussein.
"But, we also believe the Iraqi people need a government that is more representative of them," she added, without elaboration.
Iraqis display more damage
Damage at the Natural History Museum
In Baghdad, Iraqi officials -- who routinely limit the movements of journalists -- continued to show Western reporters the damage done by the bombings. CNN crews were shown damage done to Baghdad's Natural History Museum.
During the second wave of bombing, one missile appeared to explode near the state Military Industrial Corporation, which is in charge of Iraq's factories.
Smoke could be seen drifting up from the area. Twisted metal and broken, blackened concrete atop the 10-story building marked the point where U.S. or British weapons slammed through its roof and tore through to the ground floor.
The Iraqis also rushed journalists around to hospitals, to emphasize the damage done to the Iraqi people.
Baghdad officials have been less willing to reveal the impact the bombing has had on sites considered sensitive to Iraq's national security.
Any strikes inside the high-walled, sprawling presidential site compounds would be difficult to see from the outside. Iraq last year declared the sites off-limits to weapons inspectors, which led to an escalation of tensions that nearly led to military strikes.
U.S. officials said no U.S. casualties have been reported since the raids began. Iraqi officials have reported at least 25 deaths and 75 injuries.
'More bombs will make no difference'
Life in Baghdad continued Saturday much as it had in previous days: with the appearance of normalcy.
"We know they are dropping hundreds of cruise missiles here and there, but who cares?" said a food seller.
"We have got nothing to lose this time. More sanctions, more bombs will make no difference," echoed a cinema ticket seller.
During the Islamic holy month, Muslims are asked to fast and abstain from sex from dawn to dusk in a symbol of sacrifice.
There had been some speculation that the U.S.-British bombing campaign could end once Ramadan began, because the allies were concerned about offending Islamic nations. But U.S. and British officials emphasized Friday that the bombing would continue until the military goals had been accomplished.
Meanwhile, Iraq's press stepped up its condemnation of the United States and Britain on Saturday by ordering a holy war, known as a fatwa, against the two nations.
"Yes, you the people of a great civilization -- we will fight and resist the aggression," the government newspaper al- Jumhouriya declared.
Al-Qadissiya paper said Iraq had fought beside Palestinians against Israel and defended Gulf states from Iran and deserved to be supported by the Arabs.
Other newspapers carried a statement by the pan-Arab Command of the ruling Baath Party calling on Arabs to fight the U.S. with all available means.
"Let Arab masses escalate their heroic fight against America inside and outside the Arab world with all means available," the statement said.
An Iraqi Information Ministry official said U.S. aircraft had been dropping leaflets over southern Iraq in an apparent attempt to "arouse the people." The official gave no further details.
The largely Shiite Muslim south rebelled against Hussein after the 1990-91 Gulf War, but Iraqi forces suppressed the uprising.
Correspondents Brent Sadler, Carl Rochelle, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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