Iraq's information minister read the statement on TV

God is great, God is great, God is great. There is no God but Allah.

O great warrior nation, O sons of our glorious nation, O men of arms who uphold the honour of resistance, God's peace be upon you as you face the aggressors, the enemies of God and humanity, the passing infidels, with chests filled with faith and love for God.

Yes, these are the most honourable days for more than 700 years, God has granted us this great opportunity and calamity, through which God meant to test our faith, to which He, the omnipotent Almighty, was a witness. God has granted us this opportunity to match our words with deeds, so that He can bless us with His mercy.

Yes, O brothers, for ages and ages, religious scholars could not reach such a consensus as they have reached today - that this aggression against the fortress of faith is an aggression on religion, wealth, honour and life and is an aggression against the homes of Islam.

Therefore, jihad (holy war) is a duty in facing them and whoever dies on its fields is rewarded by heaven.

Seize it (jihad), O brothers, for within it are one of two good deeds for the sake of God and great principles.

Hit them! Fight them! They are evil aggressors damned by God. You are victorious and they are defeated. Saddam Hussein

By God, God will grant victory over enemies to any one of us who recalls his faith and pledge, puts them in front of his eyes at the moment of confrontation, and resorts to the patience that Almighty God ordered us to demonstrate.

The aggressors will flee from what is right and be damned, along with their devils. Faith and honour will brighten the faces of mujahideen (holy fighters), men and women.

Seize it, O apples of my eye and the eyes of Iraq and the nation. It is the chance to achieve immortality and unmatched honour.

Hit them! Fight them! They are evil aggressors damned by God. You are victorious and they are defeated.

Fight them as your brothers and sons fought them in Umm Qasr, glorious Basra, Ninawa, Nasiriya, and al-Shatra, the outskirts of al-Hay, and al-Anbar.

Fight them everywhere, as you are fighting them today, and do not give them a chance to catch their breath until they announce and carry out their withdrawal from the homes of Muslims - they are failures who are damned in this life and the hereafter.

And long live our great nation and long live Palestine, free and Arab from the river to the sea. Long live Iraq, long live Iraq.

Answer the call of jihad and long live the mujahideen of our nation. God is great and may the criminals fail.