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Sorry, Saddam tells Kuwaitis

BAGHDAD DEC. 7. The Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, on Saturday apologised to the Kuwaiti people for his country's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, saying he was not apologising out of weakness but a desire to set the record straight.

In a speech read on national television by the Iraqi Information Minister, Mr. Hussein outlined the events that led to the invasion and said: "We apologise to God about any act that has angered him in the past and that was held against us, and we apologise to you (the Kuwaitis) on the same basis." He said that in 1989, he had tried to reach a peaceful settlement of Iraq's dispute with Kuwait, but that the neighbouring Gulf country's officials were not interested in negotiating. At that time, he said, American troops were carrying out manoeuvres with Kuwaiti forces, which was a threat to Iraq.

He maintained that Iraq was the victim of a conspiracy by Kuwaiti officials who were siphoning off oil along the two countries' borders that actually belonged to Iraq.

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