"One of the lessons of recent and distant histories is that all empires and bearers of the coffin of evil, whenever they mobilized their evil against the Arab nation, or against the Muslim world, they were themselves buried in their own coffin," he said.

The speech, officially marking the 14th anniversary of the end of the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, came as the United States is piling up its threats to launch military attacks on Iraq.

Iraqi President Urges UN to Reply Iraq

Saddam urged the United Nations to answer Iraq's questions and blasted aggression on Arabs and Muslims in his speech broadcast live on TV and radio nationwide.

"The right way is that the (UN) Security Council should reply to the questions raised by Iraq and should honor its obligations under its own resolutions," Saddam said.

He was referring to the 19 questions given to UN Chief Kofi Annan in March concerning the lifting of economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after its invasion of neighboring Kuwait, and its quest for "technical talks" with chief UN arms inspector.

Saddam's speech, officially marking the 14th anniversary of the end of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, came as the United States is piling up its threats to launch military attacks on Iraq.

Saddam struck a defiant note against US threats, saying "One of the lessons of recent and distant history is that all empires and bearers of the coffin of evil, whenever they mobilized their evil against the Arab nation, or against the Muslim world, they were themselves buried in their own coffin."

"There is no other choice for those who use threat and aggression but to be repelled," the Iraqi president said in his annual speech.

(People's Daily August 9, 2002)