Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will deliver a televised speech on Army Day Monday, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
"The president will deliver a pan-Arab and historic speech tomorrow at 11 a.m. to the people of Iraq and members of our brave armed forces on the 82nd anniversary of the Iraqi Army," the agency said Sunday.
Meanwhile, a civilian militia that could be a bulwark in defending Baghdad against a possible U.S. invasion has carried out a war game designed to block an enemy force attacking from several directions, an Iraqi newspaper reported Sunday.
The official daily Al-Iraq said the people's militia of al Baath Party conducted the combat drill Saturday in Babil province, directly south of Baghdad. Militiamen practiced deceiving an attacking enemy and fighting in urban and rural areas, the paper said.
The brief article did not say how many troops participated. It quoted a senior Baath party member, Fadhil Mahmoud al-Mishiykhi, as praising the fighters' efficiency and morale in battling a campaign against Iraq launched by the United States and "its Zionist ally".
For their part, U.S. and British commanders are drawing up plans to fight a war against Iraq entirely at night, allowing an invasion during the heat of summer.
According to The Daily Telegraph, U.S. soldiers possess the world's most advanced battlefield night-vision equipment. Generals believe that their ability to fight in complete darkness will prove to be a vital factor in the outcome of the conflict.
According to the newspaper, the possibility of a summer invasion gives President George W. Bush the option of delaying an attack until all the military and political factors are in his favour.
In a related development, in the northern city of Mosul a team of U.N. arms inspectors searched Sunday in Ibn Sina Hospital. Other teams visited four sites in and around Baghdad and in the southern city of Basra. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
