For the first time in more than a decade, President Saddam Hussein grudgingly apologized on Saturday to the people of Kuwait for invading their country in 1990, blaming the Americans and the Kuwaiti government for provoking the invasion.
"We apologize to God for any action that may anger the Almighty, if such an action took place in the past, unbeknownst to us but considered to be our responsibility, and to you [Kuwaitis] we apologize on this basis as well," Saddam said in a speech read on national television by his information minister.
"O, you brothers, what we wish for is what we are working to achieve for your brothers in Iraq: to live free, without foreign control of your destiny, will, decisions, wealth, present and future," he added.
Saddam's declaration was delivered as Iraqi officials were handing over to the UN a massive, 12,000 page declaration of their chemical, biological and nuclear industries, as demanded by the Security Council.
The two moves appeared to be a dramatic bid to set aside the nightmare which began with the 1990 invasion, which led to defeat in the Gulf War and a dozen years of crippling sanctions.
In Kuwait, Information Minister Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah rejected Saddam's apology as unworthy of a response and accused the Iraqi leader of inciting terror attacks.
"Regrettably, the speech contained words to which we would rather not stoop and respond," Al Sabah told the Kuwaiti News Agency. "He must apologize to the Iraqi people first for dragging them into wars that wasted their resources and apologize to the State of Kuwait by telling the truth and returning the prisoners."
Kuwait has been pressing Iraq to account for 600 people, mostly Kuwaitis, who disappeared during Iraq's seven-month occupation. Mohammed al-Jassem, editor of the Kuwait daily Al-Watan, said the speech "cannot be considered an apology by any means."
Saddam's comments carefully avoided use of the word "invasion" in describing what he did to Kuwait and sought to cast blame on the Kuwaiti leadership and the US, which again is threatening war if Iraq does not abandon its alleged weapons of mass destruction.
He said Iraq's actions in 1990 were "prompted by so many actions," including joint US-Kuwaiti military maneuvers and Kuwait's lowering of crude oil prices.
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