Baghdad, Apr 04: Iraq warned of "martyrdom" and other unconventional attacks later today against US troops who it said were "isolated" at Saddam International Airport on the outskirts of the capital. "I mean some kind of martyrdom, and there are very very new ways which we are going to carry out," said Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf. Sahhaf recalled the battle of Dien Bien Phu, a 1954 battle which changed the course of France's war in Vietnam and led to the surrender and defeat of the French. "Tonight we will carry out something that is not conventional against them, not military. It will be a great example to them," he told a press conference. But the minister, whose country has insisted it does not have weapons of mass destruction, ruled out the use of unconventional weapons in reply to a journalist's question.
"Unless they surrender quickly, I don't think there's any chance that they will survive," he said, referring to the US forces. "We consider it an isolated island ... They are completely surrounded."
"In a joint effort between Iraqi people, Saddam's fedayeen (militia) and tribesmen ... We have the determination to keep them in a small island, another Dien Bien Phu," he said. Bureau Report