Addressing the leaders of the Kurdish enclave in the northern part of Iraq through the Iraqi daily ath-Thawra, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was quoted as warning Kurds that if dialogue does not succeed in restoring Iraqi rights, then ?the Iraqi sword should be used to recover [them]? We are not incapable of using arms, even in the presence of the Americans and British in the north and south of the country??
Apparently indirectly referring to the communique published by Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), wherein the PUK rejected Hussein?s overtures, Saddam further counseled the Kurds that ?[w]isdom must be the foundation of any dialogue to resolve problems between people?? If not, Hussein?s Ba?ath Party newspaper quotes him as saying, ?One day we will cut out the tongue of he who pronounced these words [of the PUK communique].?
Accusing Jalabani, but not by name, of wanting only ?to talk to the Americans and the Zionists,? Saddam is quoted as stating that ?we want to talk to our Kurdish people.? While he claims that no one can stop him from visiting ?the provinces of Kurdistan? I do not go for psychological reasons?? quotes the newspaper. What those ?psychological reasons? are, he did not tell ath-Thawra.
Apparently indirectly referring to the communique published by Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), wherein the PUK rejected Hussein?s overtures, Saddam further counseled the Kurds that ?[w]isdom must be the foundation of any dialogue to resolve problems between people?? If not, Hussein?s Ba?ath Party newspaper quotes him as saying, ?One day we will cut out the tongue of he who pronounced these words [of the PUK communique].?
Accusing Jalabani, but not by name, of wanting only ?to talk to the Americans and the Zionists,? Saddam is quoted as stating that ?we want to talk to our Kurdish people.? While he claims that no one can stop him from visiting ?the provinces of Kurdistan? I do not go for psychological reasons?? quotes the newspaper. What those ?psychological reasons? are, he did not tell ath-Thawra.