--- title: Baghdad communique and RCC-Ba'th statement, 17 January 1991 (FBIS translation) url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/baghdad-communique-3-fbis-1991/ description: Page 25 of the U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service daily report for 18 January 1991, translating Iraqi state-media texts issued on the first day… section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) **Content note:** Wartime state text using religious epithets ('infidels, idolators, hypocrites', 'U.S. despot and apostate') and the phrase 'U.S.-Zionist aggression' about the coalition. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) [![Baghdad communique and RCC-Ba'th statement, 17 January 1991 (FBIS translation)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/baghdad-communique-3-fbis-1991.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/baghdad-communique-3-fbis-1991.jpg) # Baghdad communique and RCC-Ba'th statement, 17 January 1991 (FBIS translation) Page 25 of the U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service daily report for 18 January 1991, translating Iraqi state-media texts issued on the first day of the air campaign. The statement of the Revolution Command Council and Ba'th Party Regional Command and Communique No. 3 call the coalition 'the U.S. despot and apostate,' 'infidels, idolators, and hypocrites' and 'the traitor Fahd,' and frame the war as 'Muhammadan jihad' with God as the victor. The labels and the borrowed religious authority are the tells. ## Text on the object Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` FBIS-NES-91-013 / 18 January 1991 / IRAQ / 25 [Left column: the first items on the page (a minister's reply to a press report; the opening paragraphs of 'Saddam Chairs Meeting 17 Jan', NC1701223291 Baghdad INA in Arabic 2216 GMT 17 Jan 91) are omitted to fit the length limit; transcription resumes below.] The meeting issued a statement. Following is the text: O great people, o men who are the stalwarts of faith and the banner of pride in the heroic Armed Forces. O Arabs, o faithful Muslims wherever you are, this is the day of the hostile sects [reference to forces hostile to Muslims in an early Islamic battle]. It is a day of Muhammadan jihad against the infidels, idolators, and hypocrites. These are glorious days, full of the faith [words indistinct] of the days of the Prophet's companions in the first days of Islam. It is God's will to bestow great pride and a period of dignity on the Iraqi mujahidin [strugglers] after He decided to raise them to a greater degree of faith among the fortunate and pious ones and the faithful worshipers of God. As in the struggle against the hostile sects, victory will certainly fall to the faithful as it was certain to fall to the Prophet, may God's prayers and peace be upon him. [One further paragraph of the left column, on Iraqi women and the armed forces, omitted.] [Right column] Bush's brute force and his followers in the army of infidelity and hypocrisy will neither frighten nor terrify the sweet children and the glorious women of Iraq. It is natural for us to say that Bush's brute and infidel force, even if it is redoubled to several times what it is now, will not weaken the determination of the men of faith and jihad in great Iraq. Victory, in which will is tested by weapons after reliance on God, will be the ally of the faithful and the harvest of their faith and their heroism. Aggression and its weapons will turn against the criminals who carried it out. God will make triumph those whom He wants to triumph, and he truly listens and responds. God is great and cursed be the lowly. Communiques Claim Shootdowns, Outline Views Communique No. 3 NC1701210091 Baghdad INA in Arabic 2020 GMT 17 Jan 91 [Text] Baghdad, 17 Jan (INA)--The number of enemy aircraft shot down by the Iraqi air defenses from early today until 1855 today has risen to 44 fighter planes. Furthermore, a large number of cruise missiles [al-sawarikh al-jawallah] were destroyed. The following is the text of Communique No. 3 issued by the Armed Forces General Command: Communique No. 3 issued by the Armed Forces General Command: In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. O zealous sons of the Arab nation, you are God's beloved and are proceeding on the road to glory and loftiness which enhances the nation's status, upgrades its prestige, and consolidates its historical role; you are the heroes of the Armed Forces who with your chivalry and jihad are fighting the U.S. despot and apostate and the forces allied with it, the exploiters, corrupters, and corrupt. Your brave sons, the hawks of the Air Force and the heroes of the Air Defenses who protect your clear sky, have confronted the U.S., Atlantic, and Zionist forces of aggression and faced them with their known heroism. They have made their planes fall and have shattered their missiles. God has been their victor and has made you triumph on the road to virtue and to the enhancement of the nation's status by making your banner flutter high. The hero hawks of the air have harvested the following from 0230 this morning until 1850 [as received] this evening: 44 enemy planes, 33 cruise missiles, in addition to several others which did not explode and which will be used. Thus, those who wager on the surprise element now realize that the Iraqis are lying in wait for them inspired by their symbol Saddam Husayn and will proceed on the road to certain victory, God willing. God grants victory. ``` Page text is the FBIS English translation of Arabic originals; transcribed verbatim from the scan including its spellings. Passages omitted to fit the length limit are marked in the text; the omitted opening of the 'Saddam Chairs Meeting' item says the Revolution Command Council and Ba'th Party Regional Command met and reviewed the military situation. Not verified by a fluent Arabic reader against the original broadcast. [← Gulf War leaflet, skull-faced figure 'Ruler of the dead'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gulf-war-leaflet-ruler-of-the-dead-skull-1991/) [FBIS Daily Report: Baghdad Domestic Service reads Saddam Husayn's letter to Bush (17 Jan 1991) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/fbis-baghdad-saddam-letter-to-bush-1991/) ## Using the same techniques - [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking) - [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers. - [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling) - [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling) - [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd. - [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)