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Saddam offers condolences on Web

October 20, 2001 Posted: 2:12 PM EDT (1812 GMT)

Saddam Hussein replied to a letter from a U.S. citizen

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has offered his condolences to an American citizen for the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S.

But he said however he would not offer condolences to President George W. Bush until the U.S. leader did the same over the deaths of 1.5 million Iraqis that Baghdad blames on 11-year-old U.N. sanctions against Iraq.

In a reply to an e-mail sent by a Christopher J. Love, Hussein also attacked the continuing sanctions against Iraq and American policies in the Middles East, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported on Saturday.

Hussein's letter, posted on the INA's Web site (http://www.uruklink.net/iraqnews/eindex.htm), referred to his American correspondent, Christopher J. Love, as a "brother in the family of mankind."

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The letter begins: "I read your e-mail message of October 2nd carefully and I have well pondered over your emotions regarding the victims of the two towers.

"All I can say is presenting my condolences to you, and to reiterate the Muslims linguistic formula on occasion, like this: (God has created us, and to him we return. May God give you long life )."

Love's email was not included on the INA site.

The letter states: "Do you know, brother Christopher, that your administration, in its war against the people of Iraq, has been burning not only the cereals in silos, but even the harvest by throwing flares in order to make Iraqi people starve?"

Hussein reiterated Iraq's previous message of condolence to the September 11 victims, in a letter adressed to the co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness, a group that opposes U.S. economic sanctions on Iraq.

The Iraqi leader said he did not know who was behind the attacks and said that he would not offer condolences to the Bush administration.

"I don't think that your administration deserves the condolences of Iraqis, except if it presents its condolences to the Iraqi peope for the 1.5 million Iraqis it killed, and apologised to them," Hussein said, in the letter.

Last month Saddam said he would not give his condolences to Bush.

In a meeting with a representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said: "Bush wants us to pay our condolences, but if I were to do that I would not be respecting my people. Bush is the president of a state that is launching a war on us ... in a mean, terroristic manner.

"And if I offered condolences to its president, this would be hypocrisy, and we are not hypocrites.

"Since offering condolences is a kind of courtesy between states, but we offered condolences to small organizations in America and to an American personality [Ramsey Clark] who came to extend condolences for America's calamities against us."