- BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The American
GI's 21st-century kit will count for nothing, says President Saddam Hussein,
against the Iraqi infantryman armed with a rifle, God's blessing -- and
local villagers ready to feed him on the battlefield.
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- But with rations tight, supplying the troops with food
could be a real concern, he was quoted as conceding Wednesday.
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- In remarks carried by Iraqi state television, the president
told militia commanders the United States had superiority in the air but
it would be a different story in face to face fighting.
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- "In aerial combat, there is a difference in weapons.
But on the ground and on foot, men fight with their rifles," he said
in his latest defiant salvo against the U.S. military build-up.
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- Saddam painted a picture of combat ranging across the
Iraqi countryside and his troops relying for food on the local population
rather than military logistics.
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- But since the army was evicted from Kuwait by a U.S.-led
coalition in the 1991 Gulf War, food has been rationed in Iraq as a result
of United Nations trade sanctions that are still in place. Feeding the
soldiery was now a concern, Saddam said.
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- "It is enough to have grenades, launchers, a loaf
of bread, a drink of water and a rifle. Then, counting on God, Iraq will
be safe and I don't see any difficulties in the battle -- unless the fighter
says he has no bread or no water to drink.
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- "I have to see if he can depend on his brothers
in villages round about to get from them a loaf of bread to go on fighting
among them. This is the only thing that I find difficult."
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- The authorities have distributed a three-month ration
to every family to stock up food in their houses in case of war. More reserve
rations are expected to be handed out soon.
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- Five weeks of bombing campaign in 1991 let the coalition
drive the Iraqi ground troops from Kuwait in a matter of hours.
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- This time around, the Americans and their allies should
be even better equipped in terms of the kind of infantry firepower, fighting
vehicles, body armor, night-vision kit and so on they can bring to bear
on Iraqi troops wielding familiar Kalashnikov rifles, machineguns and rocket-propelled
grenade launchers.
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- Saddam, however, appealed to his troops pride in traditions
symbolized by the traditional Arab shemagh headdress:
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- "Every one of us will put on his shemagh, with his
rifle in his hand, and with it the enemy will be defeated."
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