Saddam Hussein was a magnificent Arab hero and a great leader of the Arab Nation. He is worthy of in-depth study by the youths of the Arab nation and its elders, by the Muslim Ummah, and by all sincere revolutionaries and progressives the world over.

On this occasion, the first year anniversary of his martyrdom, we wish to highlight the achievements of this great international hero especially through his leadership of the great Iraq, land of civilization, and in support of its continued defeat of the American-Zionist-Iranian Safawi invasion that it has sustained since 2003.

Believing as such that the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party of president Saddam Hussein shall rise again victoriously leading the struggle of the Iraqi and Arab people to defeat the American-Zionist-Iranian invasion of Iraq, the resistance in Iraq struggles with full vigor and no hesitation to resurrect the program of the Arab revolution that was begun by president Saddam Hussein; may his deeds be accepted.

President Saddam Hussein ascended to the leadership of the Ba'ath party of Iraq and to the presidency of Iraq on July 16 1979 . The Ba'ath party itself took over power in Iraq in 1963. Almost immediately he set out to work on building Iraq into an economic and military giant, facing monumental tasks of great difficulty with courage and sincerity; serving as such the Arab and Islamic Ummah and setting to build a base of revolution in beloved Iraq, land of civilization.

Also, almost immediately the conspiracies to destroy this revolution began. Both conspiracies from within Iraq and conspiracies from the outside of Iraq were planned. Imperialist powers immediately infiltrated through agents sabotaging this incredible rise of an Arab revolutionary experience and set out to destroy it with great animosity.

The imperialists and Zionists set out to incite ethnic conflict by raising the Kurdish question and hoping to sever the northern part of Iraq. Likewise, the Iranians worked diligently to incite sectarian religious divisions by working among the poorest of sectors of the Shiia population in the south and throughout Iraq .

President Saddam and the Ba'ath party caught on immediately to these conspiracies and dealt with them with great wisdom and patience realizing the malicious intents of the imperialists, Zionists, and Iranians. They were firm when they needed to be fueled by concern for the future of the revolution and ever-present protectors of the interests of the Arab nation in whole.

Autonomy was given to the Kurds in the north and their national rights were preserved, religious freedoms were granted for the Shiias and both were pre-conditioned on loyalty to Iraq and without trespassing across the red lines of the patriotic adherence to the Arab nation they belonged and to the unity and solidarity of Iraq, its people, its territory, and its strategic Arab interests against Zionism and imperialism. History would vindicate president Saddam Hussein as it showed the fifth column nature of the Kurdish and Iranian backed traitors who facilitated and now benefit from the rape, destruction, and occupation of Iraq . It is no surprise then that a Kurdish women yesterday on television was quoted as saying “we were better under Saddam” after their villages were leveled by Turkish planes in an indiscriminate attack!

Saddam Hussein and the Ba'ath Party were correct and always analyzed correctly the position on the Kurdish question and the Iranian question and paid dearly for these betrayals of Iraq .

In his address to the Ba'ath Party congress in June 1982, president Saddam highlighted these conspiracies. He spoke of the necessity of regional representatives of the party to increase their attention and sincere efforts to ideological preparedness of the masses of Iraqiis. He warned that this was the Achiles’ heel by which the reactionaries and counter-revolutionaries will attempt to destroy the revolution in Iraq . The support of the masses of Iraqiis and Arabs all over the Arab homeland, were the surest guarantee to the success of the Arab revolution in Iraq since Iraq was now the liberated base of the Arab nation against Zionism, imperialism, and the reactionary forces.

President Saddam Hussein pointed to the other sectors of the conspiracy aimed at aborting the revolution in Iraq . He pointed to the regional involvement of Arab countries such as the oil Sheikdoms in accomplishing the 30 country aggression against Iraq in 1991. *

He pointed to the role the Egyptian and Syrian armies played in attacking Iraq . He showed how none of the goals of that American invasion would have ever been possible if it weren’t for the betrayal of the Arab brethren nations surrounding Iraq .

In his same speech however, he renewed his faith in the Arab Ummah. He said the governments of Arabia do not represent the opinion and position of their citizens which are in contrast to that of the Arab regimes.

President Saddam always maintained that Palestine is at center of the Arab revolution and is the essence of it. That it was the reason for all the set-backs and defeats of the Arab nation. From the Nakba of 1948, to the loss of the war in 1967, to aborting the success of the 1973 victory in favor of Camp David and its treaty of surrender, to the Iranian war imposed on Iraq in September of 1980, to the attack on the Iraq nuclear facility on June 7 1981, to the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, to the attack and besiegement of Iraq in January of 1991 which later resulted to 1 ½ million Iraqis starved to death by the United States embargo, and of course to what later led to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and execution of the president, as we all witnessed one year ago.

Despite all the hardships, the faith in the struggle was never shaken by the Iraqi leadership nor the courage of president Saddam Hussein shaken to confront every challenge presented against Iraq and the Arab Ummah. The president ,with great insight and determination, never retreated even as it cost him great personal sacrifice in family and personal belonging until he gave his own life for the cause of the Arab revolution on the 30^th of December 2006 at the time of Eid Aladha.

In a document published in 1972-74, the Iraqi leadership said that their nationalization of oil and pact with the Soviet Union shall never be forgiven by imperialism or Zionism and that Iraq is now a target of both and in that document stressed the need for strategic planning of the party to meet future challenges in the escalation between the eastern and western camps of the Cold War that would be coming. **

The imperialists, Zionists, and Iranians wanted to make an example of president Saddam Hussein to all revolutionaries the world over. Yet they failed miserably. They chose Eid alAdha (the Muslim day of sacrifice and celebration) yet in doing so Saddam Hussein slaughtered them! It was befitting a great hero as Saddam Hussein to commemorate his life by gaining martyrdom on the day of sacrifice. It is on this day the greatest of sacrifices made by an Arab leader in modern time shall always be remembered. Just as in his trial he turned his trial into a trial of the traitors of the Arab people, he turned his hanging to hang his detractors, and he turned his day of martyrdom into a day of celebration of his sacrifice by the Arab people forever!

That was Saddam Hussein son of this great Arab nation and he shall always be remembered as such. A great man with unshakable faith in his cause and a real man who looked death in the face and smirked!

It was during 1991 that president Saddam showered Tel Aviv with Hussein and Abbas missiles creating panic in the Zionist camp. It was at this time that the Zionist leaders promised that Iraq shall pay dearly for such action. Long before the Hizbullah rockets became popular, president Saddam and Iraq were the first of all the Arab governments to fulfill the promise of Hussein and Abbas rockets onto the heads of the Zionists.

The Iranians and the Turks never ceased to conspire against Iraq opening their frontiers and borders to overt occupying forces to come into Iraq as happened with the Turkish-American treachery and covertly to bring in Failaq Badr thugs into Iraq as the Iranian-American treachery showed in the aggression and occupation of Iraq in 2003 that ensued.

So in retrospect we see that president Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi Ba'ath had no choice but to confront the American-Zionist-Iranian aggression and had the far-sight to know this since the beginning of their assumption of power.

President Saddam was correct in how he handled the internal and external threats facing the revolution. From the Kurdish and Iranian conspiracies against Iraq and the revolution to the threats of regional powers especially the comprador governments such as in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the service of Western imperialism.

President Saddam confronted all the threats until his martyrdom and without hesitation.

Many detractors of president Saddam Hussein point to his mistakes. We, on the otherhand, see little to no mistakes in the actions Saddam took. Instead, we see all the positive aspects of the actions undertaken by the president in his correct path and course of action. What we see today is the birth of armed resistance in Iraq and Palestine . This could have not been possible if not for the example set forth by the Iraqi leadership and its active support against the Zionist-American-Iranian axis in the region.

The birth of the Arab revolutionary program is in full swing from Baghdad to Al Quds, from the Atlantic to the Arabian Gulf. It is no wonder that the pictures of president Saddam Hussein adorn all the walls and places of work in the Algerian capital of Algiers, and that a city in Sri Lanka has renamed itself after the president.

Saddam Hussein has left an Arab revolutionary legacy never to be forgotten, and is inspirational for generations to come. It is they who will follow in the footsteps of the great Arab hero and martyr Saddam Hussein. Saddam was and still is an example to be followed. He added life to the Arab renaissance project and began the Arab revolution in modern times.

It is now the task of the sons and daughters of the Arab nation to continue the work he was doing!

All glory to president Saddam Hussein on his 1^st anniversary of martyrdom.

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* As quoted in the recent Almoharer Arabic article (issue 264) by Fouad AlHag in his address of the conference of Arab popular committees in Baghdad (December 12^th 1991)