We don't expect the powers of evil and vice to fulfill pledges or keep promises

In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate; great people, manly men of our armed forces - the active weapon and loyal stand for our people and our nation, comrades in doctrine and comrades in arms in our valiant army;

It is the dawn of your renewed anniversary. It is your Day, and it is our Day too, for your glorious chronicle indicates that you have been performing the duty and the honour of your military career in the same spirit and on the same line as those of your ancestors. They had the honour of bearing the banner of righteousness and revolution high. They commenced by cleansing the lands of Hejaz, Nejd and Yemen of abomination. Then, after they had consolidated Islam in those lands through crushing the apostates and stamping out the spirit of apostasy, they headed for Syria and cleansed the whole land, and for Egypt, Daughter of the Nile, and broke the power of Byzantium. That coincided with cleansing the pure land of Iraq, Daughter of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and restoring to her her great, just and faithful Arab face. The cleansing of Persia followed. Before the banners of righteousness and her great edifice, the banners and edifices of falsehood and those who had upheld it were crumbling to dust.

Yes, brave and faithful men of our armed forces, men of the great and loyal Army of the Nation;

Yes, ardent sons of our Arab Nation, and sons of the great people of Iraq, the citadel of glory, faith, righteousness, virtue and justice.

Today, the 6th of January in the year 2000, corresponding to the year 1420 of the Hijra, is the prime of this year and of all other years. It is the day when we recall and do not forget, for we never forget, and when we welcome and celebrate the feats of valour of our army on the day of its establishment.

It is the day on which our army began, soon after its birth, to fill its great chronicle with glorious deeds.

May God keep it the source of honour for its people and its nation!

It is the lofty flagstaff for the God-Is-Great Banner, which has become proud of what is written on it and proud of the high level of influence it exerts on the souls, conscience, minds and hearts of the people.

With this banner, and with what supports and forms the depth of its memorable feats, stands and struggle, our army has become the devoted son of the people and the nation. It has become the quiver for the arrows of right against falsehood and the pride of the faithful military career of our nation. It has become the nation's living example in this age and the constant inspiration to its endeavour to achieve sublimity. It has become the source of great honour for those who join it and those who love it for endeavouring to please God, History, the Nation and the People.

This army has fought in defence of righteousness, virtue, faith, and noble objectives not only as it should, but also with a spirit and valour for which eyes were dazzled, heads bowed in respect and hearts amazed and awed-- even the hearts of some of those who lined with the enemies of our nation and our people.

We take great pride in our Army Day because our army has linked without breach in exemplary values, our remote past, which is the beacon of our road to the future, with our present. It has won this lofty position through the high calibre of its performance, its forbearance toward adversities, the sublime level of its faith and its virtues and manners which are those of men with a mission.

The virtuous example we are talking about - the example set, in the name of God, by our army - was not set under favourable circumstances. It did create this ideal characteristic and its underlying significance all by itself and for itself. It wrenched it away from the claws of predators to whom many, many heads, on this Earth of God, have bowed. Some of these heads are honest but powerless, some are dishonest and ignoble. So, too, from among those who are counted in the list of Arab rulers and holders of titles of responsibility, are some who have weakened and some who have abased themselves through treachery.

Blessed be our valiant armed forces on their Day, which is anointed with purest virtue and decorated with the noblest of feats which are recorded in their immortal and glorious annals. To preserve the purity of their virtuous qualities and to defend them, our armed forces have had to wade through a lot of blood - pure and impure.

Blessed be the martyrs!

Blessed be the martyrs who illuminate the flagstaff of Iraq!

Let our nation take pride in its great army, the bearer of its mission!

Let our people, the great and loyal people of Iraq, take pride in their faithful army, their true and dutiful son!

Great people of Iraq, sons of our glorious nation, Brothers;

After this brief talk on this highborn occasion of ours, some of you may ask: What about politics and politicians? What about the embargo and those who impose it? How should it and what must be done for the present and future?

Here I will say, briefly too - for we have already discussed this in details and elaborated on it on occasions other than this - that very early, since 1991 and 1992, we have been reiterating that we should not expect the powers of evil and vice to fulfil a pledge or keep a promise. Pledge-fulfilling and promise-keeping are not characteristics of them. They have no other characteristics but treachery, aggression, breaking promises, cancelling covenants and doing everything that is vile and injurious. We have said it with certainty that the embargo will not be lifted by a Security Council resolution but will corrode by itself. Even if a Security Council resolution will one day be taken in this respect, after all evil attempts have failed and all nests of poisonous wasps have been shattered before the Will of the strong, faithful, truthful, just and honest Iraq-- such a resolution will come as an expression of this failure and not as the fulfilment of a promise or the discharge of an obligation.

This has become obvious to you generally and in detail after all that has passed by you and all that you have passed through.

As for now, it pleases us to say to you briefly and without going into details, that the stage of embargo corrosion is no longer something which we predict or wait for. It has actually started, thanks, after thanking the Almighty God, to your great fortitude and endurance. Therefore, and after having dismissed what is false in what has been presented to us as hopes to build upon, we have nothing before us but to keep on the path we have taken and cling to the spirit of fortitude and endurance we have been upholding in our state of becoming. Thus, God may grant us a great victory on every day and every while. On each flagstaff of this victory you will have a lofty banner of honour and an additional asset of potency to lead life successfully and to keep you the foremost model for the nation and for humanity at large.

In the field of politics and politicians, we say that, originally, we did not start with politics; rather, we started with principles. Principles have their own way, which is one of strife and struggle. Their basic means is justice, and their end, after pleasing God, is to please the People and the Nation. Therefore, we have never had any role in the world of acrobatic acts on tight ropes, and we have never participated and will never participate in the slave market of this world, bargaining away honour, virtue and the interests of the people and the nation.

The beginning and the far line on the horizon, or the line at hand, ought to, or rather, must be based on the principles of the starting line, while interacting genuinely with all colours of life so that we may find what relates to the colour we have chosen since long and have given, as a glorious nation and a great people, generous sacrifices and gracious patience.

Principles are the alternative of the politics current in the international and regional arena. From our principles emanateour politics, whether it pleases some or displeases others.

The End is for the righteous who strive and fight and persevere in patience and shall have the lofty rank of Truth with the Lord of the Worlds.

The politics oozing out of our principles has become the ideal for every virtuous, free and honest individual in the Arab Homeland and outside it. It has become the guiding landmark for everyone who strives sincerely in defence of his nation and people and puts politics at their service.

In the field of political activity, our relation to what is going on in the region and the world is not other than fending off evil or siding with anyone who needs our siding to sharpen his endeavour for himself and ease his feeling of loneliness on the road - a feeling that has dispirited him and rendered him incapable of crossing to the safe shore. This is done with all the senses of honour, glory and obligation to faith that ought to or must accompany the actions of those who shoulder the obligation faith demands of those who have it. No change have we in this. Anyone who wants to harmonize with us or understand us will have to alter what is wrong or ill in word and deed. God will bear witness to what he really wants.

Therefore, Great People, I say that you are the prime of the present, that the future is yours, and that your enemies and adversaries of your principles and their objectives and ways will have nothing but shame.

God is Great!

And long live the Sixth of January of every year!

Long live those who bear the banner, title and honour of this Day!

May our Nation, our People and our Army enjoy prosperity on this occasion every year!

Congratulations and best wishes to you, Brothers, on the occasion of Ramadan and the Feast of Breaking the Fast!

May we all keep on the way that pleases God and consolidates the position of all believers!

May God disgrace the unbelievers and the aggressors and provide the weak with the capability that may guide them to what they ought to do to follow the track of right!

May He crush the traitors and the oppressors!

Long live our Nation, the Nation of the Message and Messengers of God!

Long live Palestine-- free and Arab from the Sea to the River!

Respectful salutation to the martyrs of our valiant armed forces and to the martyrs of the armed forces of our glorious Nation!

God is Great!

God is Great!

And let the debased be despised!