Note: This is a translation of the Dutch version of this article which appeared on Meervrijheid (Morefreedom).

With the threat of imminent war against Iraq, naturally Morefreedom wishes to participate in the supply of objective information and analysis. But what is this war about anyway? This war is nothing less than a war against the sovereignty of the proud and peaceful people of Iraq. But the symbol, the single expression of Iraqi popular will, is of course her strong leader, Mr. Saddam Hussein, who has so diligently worked for the welfare of his people for the past 34 years. So, what can be better than to allow the distinguished Mr. Hussein, who has been rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, to to speak for himself? So, here it is, with special thanks to our contacts in the peace movement for helping arrange it, an exclusive interview of Morefreedom with Saddam Hussein.

Morefreedom: Mr. Hussein, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to Morefreedom. We appreciate that very much, because we know that you and your spokesman, the eminent Mr. Tariq Aziz, are at this very moment working around the clock to help prevent war and keep the peace.

Saddam Hussein: The pleasure is all mine. I am deeply committed to the world learning the truth about the devil Bush, who's plotting to trick the whole world to go along with his imperialist conquest. As all people, the Iraqi people wish to live in peace and security, and if this interview can help generate understanding for that, then of course I am willing to cooperate. By the way, I am really thrilled that 70 thousand Dutch people recently demonstrated on my behalf. My sincere thanks to all of you who participated. I got tears in my eyes when I saw this placard: "Keep Saddam in power! Say NO to war!"

Morefreedom: Mr. Hussein, please allow me to be frank. There has been some criticism of your government lately. For example, it has been said that you are responsible for 2 million people being killed. Do you have any comment on that?

Saddam Hussein: Yes. Whatever you do, there will always be some criticism. Nobody's perfect, and neither am I. But even if we did something wrong, with the best of intentions, an aggressive war can never be justified. A nation has the right to use force only to defend itself. We are fully cooperating with inspections and nobody in Iraq wants war. Wars are terrible, because thousands may get killed. Furthermore, Mr. Bush only wants to steal our oil and expand his military bases in the Middle East, so he can dominate the region and squash the right of self-determination of the Iraqi people. But sadly, this is nothing new. American history is full of these types of oppressive wars.

Morefreedom: Can you give another example of that, Mr. Hussein?

Saddam Hussein: Yes, of course. The best example is when America invaded half of Europe in 1944-1945. You poor Europeans suffered terribly because of that. Just as your parents and grandparents must have felt under that imperialistic invasion, so too the Iraqi feel under the current threat.

Morefreedom: But Hitler was a terrible dictator. Didn't he deserve to be removed?

Saddam Hussein: Yes, of course. Adolf Hitler was a butcher. I am in no way defending him. I am very much opposed to Hitler and I strongly believe he should have been removed. But an agressive war against Hitler was not the solution. There are many possible arguments against that war. But I find the moral argument the most convincing. In short, it was absolutely indefensible that America started a war with thousands of civilian casualties, only on the basis of a flimsy speculation that Hitler might attack America.

Morefreedom: But what about all those Europeans who were oppressed by Hitler? Didn't America liberate them?

Saddam Hussein: Of course Europe should have been liberated from Hitler. But the Europeans should have done that themselves. American had no business there.

Morefreedom: And all those Jews in the concentration camps, who hadn't been gassed yet, didn't America liberate them?

Saddam Hussein: Of course they should have been liberated. But that was the business of the Jews themselves. The Jews should have liberated themselves. America had absolutely no right to interfere. America didn't care about the liberation of the Europeans. As became clear after the war, all America cared about was establishing military bases in Europe, gain control over the natural gas of Northern Holland, and thus to be able to dominate the region. Of course Hitler had to go. I would have been very much in favour of the European people uprising against him in order to establish a free Europe. But conquest by the war mongering Roosevelt was no solution. To this day, Europe is a province of the United States, so you're certainly worse off now than you ever were under Hitler. In addition, the war wasn't necessary at all. All peaceful solutions hadn't been tried yet when those arrogant Americans just started bombing Europe and invading your beaches on that infamous day, 6 June 1944.

Morefreedom: How could the war have been prevented?

Saddam Hussein: Inspections. The military pressure on Hitler was big enough that Hitler would have agreed to inspections. That way, Hitler could have been prevented from developing weapons of mass destruction. There is evidence that Hitler was open to such an agreement, and was prepared to destroy his long distance rockets. But America wasn't interested in peace, even though Europe was absolutely no threat to them. It was a war of aggression. By the way, there is something else about that war which is extremely shocking, but sadly not many people know about it.

Morefreedom: What was that?

Saddam Hussein: America did not have permission from the League of Nations to attack Europe. If the majority of nations had made such a decision democratically, then at least there would have been some small justification for that war. But Roosevelt and his puppet Churchill attacked Europe on their own. There was no legal basis for attacking Europe, it is was simply a question of naked power, which made it even more unjustified. What kind of a world would we have if any nation powerful enough could just topple any dictatorship on its own? Just suppose outsiders were to just go ahead and liberate North Korea, Iran and Zimbabwe from their horrible dictatorships. Wouldn't that be horrible?

Morefreedom: But wasn't it a good deed for America to liberate Europe from Hitler, even if we were to accept that it didn't make the world safer and even if Europe were no threat to America?

Saddam Hussein: If America really had had good motives, just perhaps there might have been an argument for that. Even though war is never a solution. Peaceful solutions must always be preferred. But in this case war was certainly not justified, because Hitler was totally a creation by America.

Morefreedom: What do you mean?

Saddam Hussein: The Versailles treaty after the first World War, which was dictated by America, was very humiliating to the Germans. It created an atmosphere where a nationalistic strong leader such as Hitler could rise to power. Without America there would have been no Hitler.

Morefreedom: But isn't that precisely an argument for the removal of Hitler by America? What about the rule that people who create a mess are responsible for cleaning it up?

Saddam Hussein: No, because by their previous bad choices America demonstrates that they are bad. So the real problem was not Hitler, but Roosevelt. No matter how bad Hitler was, America formed a greater threat to world peace than Hitler. Had America left Hitler alone, peace in Europe would have remained, so there was no reason whatsoever for war.

Morefreedom: And you oppose the war in Iraq as well?

Saddam Hussein: Yes. Even in England, where the official government policy is to bomb away all of Iraq, 90% of the people are against the war.

Morefreedom: What is the most important argument of those 90% to be opposed to the war?

Saddam Hussein: The British people understand very well that it is immoral in a democracy for the government to go to war if 90% of the people are against it.

Morefreedom: Yes, but why are those 90% against the war?

Saddam Hussein: In surveys 90% of people say they are against the war because they believe it is wrong to go to war if 90% of the people are against it.

Morefreedom: Ah, thank you for clearing that up. And thank you very much for stating your position so well. I sincerely hope that your wise words will inspire the visitors of Morefreedom to promote peace for Iraq. Do you have any last remark you would like to make to our visitors?

Saddam Hussein: Thank you very much indeed. We Iraqi and you Europeans have something in common. We both know how terrible war is. I am convinced that Europe supports Iraq so strongly because, having gone though the ordeal yourselves, you know how terrible an American attack on your sovereignty is. I promise with all my heart that if, with the help of Europe, I keep my power, I will do my utmost to ensure that Iraq will become even more safe, peaceful, prosperous and happy than it already is. You know, I regret to have to admit it, but even the Iraqi people are not perfect. Our biggest threat of course is the imperialistic war mongering of Bush and Blair, the two big devils. But Iraq is also threatened from within. When the threat of war is over, I sincerely promise to do everything in my power to solve the domestic problems with the Kurds, the Shiites and other enemies of the Iraqi people.

Email: henry@sturman.net