Hussein: ‘Enemy Will Be Defeated’

BAGHDAD — Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, facing a possible U.S.-led war over alleged weapons of mass destruction, said Tuesday that Iraq’s enemies would be defeated.

“Your heads will be held aloft in dignity and, God willing, your enemy will be defeated and humiliated,” Hussein told senior ministers and high-ranking military officers, Iraq’s state television reported.

The comments came as five teams of arms inspectors fanned out across Iraq to search for suspected weapons of mass destruction under a U.N. Security Council resolution giving Iraq a last chance to disarm or face a possible war.

Iraq says all such weapons programs have been stopped.

Hussein said that military action was despised but that people have two options in war: “One can lose his cause, honor and the honor of his country, future generations and his principles. Or he holds on to his faith and advances.”