BAGHDAD AIRPORT, Iraq, 11 April 2003 — US forces are set to distribute leaflets in Baghdad and other cities urging Iraqis to rise up “like lions” against what is left of Saddam Hussein’s rule, military sources said yesterday. The move is part of an effort to give ordinary Iraqis a sense that they are ultimately responsible for overthrowing the man who has governed them for more than two decades.
US forces took over much of Baghdad on Wednesday and jubilant Iraqis attacked statues of Saddam, who has disappeared along with key aides. But some paramilitaries are fighting on and there is still no US or British presence in wide stretches of the country.
In a leaflet prepared in Arabic and English and to be distributed as soon as today, US/UK forces tell Iraqis that Saddam’s government has been defeated militarily and that freedom for all Iraqi citizens is just around the corner.
“Coalition forces have now surrounded Baghdad and are destroying the last remaining forces which stand against freedom for Iraq,” reads the leaflet, a copy of which was shown to Reuters. “Iraqi people! The time is now! Join the forces who came to free you! Rise up like lions and make the dream of a brighter future for this generation, and all the generations of Iraqis to come, a reality.”
The seven-paragraph text goes on to say that while coalition forces and “all the good will of the world” are eager to build a new and free Iraq, the cooperation of ordinary Iraqis is needed to defeat the “last remnants of the regime”.
“Now is the time to rise up against the paramilitary extremists. Rise up against them. Identify them to the coalition forces. Together we can finally destroy the last remnants of a brutal regime forever.”
“Coalition forces are completely committed to removing Saddam and his regime from power. We are not here to take over your country or occupy it for any great length of time. Rather we are here to liberate Iraq for all its people,” the text says.
