Happy Independance Day, Iraq

“Without America’s active involvement in the world, the ambitions of tyrants would go unopposed, and millions would live at mercy of terrorists. With Americans’ active involvement in the world, tyrants learn to fear, and terrorists are on the run,” Babysitter to the Ignorant, George Bush, Independance Day speech to fellow dullards and assorted military lackies in Ohio, July 4, 2003.

Transcript of an informal rebuttal audiotape reportedly made by Saddam Hussein that was broadcast yesterday by Al Jazeera, in a translation from Arabic by The Associated Press:

Oh, great people, our great military, children of our great country, we are now on June 14, 2003.

People have been asking why they have not heard the voice of Saddam Hussein. We face a lot of trouble in getting our voice to you, even though we have been trying.

I first say that I am still in Iraq and I miss you all, even though I am in your midst, but you know how things are.

I talk to you today and all the honorable Arabs across the world. I told you before this last battle and during it that we would not fail you and would not cause God to be angry at us.

What happened has happened, we sacrificed what we sacrificed: our rule but not our principles.

They wanted to occupy Iraq and impose on it what they wanted without a fight in exchange for our keeping our seats of power under their colonialist, subservient control, so that we would become like others you know. The invaders were disappointed and their actions were thwarted.

Oh, brothers and sisters, I give you the good news of telling you that jihad cells and brigades have been formed.

I am with some of my companions in Iraq, and I salute them and you. I salute those fighting, and I salute their perseverance and courage, and I ask God to give them patience and to make them a role model for all Iraqis.

The casualty numbers that the Americans are announcing are false.

We refused to hold on to power if that meant submitting to the American threats.

This act of theirs is just the beginning of their aim to control the whole region.

They aim to destroy Iraq, and what they called the weapons of mass destruction was nothing but a cover for their plans. You have seen how they destroyed both the old and new civilizations of Iraq. All the science centers, museums and schools. They questioned thousands of people, even simple workers.

I ask the invaders, where are these weapons of mass destruction?

Make the mujahedeen secure and catch any spies. We call on Iraqis who deal with the Americans to stop doing so.

I call upon you to protect these heroic fighters and not give the invaders any information about them or their whereabouts during their operations, to stop giving names or any true information about them. They are doing their job in a satisfactory manner for God and nation. They accepted the call of the leadership for jihad.

There is resistance, and I know you are hearing about this. Not a day passes without their suffering losses in our great land thanks to our great mujahedeen. The coming days will, God willing, be days of hardship and trouble for the infidel invaders.

We fulfilled our obligations to you and sacrificed what we had to, except our values, which are based on our deep faith and honor. We did not stab our people or our nation in the back. No to surrender, and no to cooperation, and we thank God for everything.