87 Quotes by Iraqi authors

Iraqi sayings carry the steady pulse of the Tigris: plainspoken, sly, and tender. They weigh honor with neighborly wit, braid patience with defiance, and find warmth in small cups of cardamom tea. From reed marshes to alleys of Baghdad, the imagery is earthy, dates, dust, and the shadow of palm fronds, while the mood swings between elegy and resilience. Poets and street vendors share a language that answers hardship with sardonic sparkle, remembers old glories without pretense, and insists that hospitality and dignity outlast any storm.

See the complete list of authors from Iraq

"There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"I can say, and I am responsible for what I am saying, that they have started to commit suicide under the walls of Baghdad. We will encourage them to commit more suicides quickly"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"Search for the truth. I tell you things and I always ask you to verify what I say. I told you yesterday that there was an attack and a retreat at Saddam's airport"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"A military coup needs a sacrifice and courage that you can't find in an army without morale"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"This will be Iraq for all without discrimination among Iraqi citizens or ethnic or sectarian discrimination"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"Military confrontation is not a suitable alternative in confronting terror and current security threats"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"Every human must take responsibility for his actions"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"The Iraqi people are living a long-running tragedy because of the legacy of the old regime, the Americans and their actions that are unsuitable for Iraqi society, and the weakness of national resolve"

Ahmed Chalabi, Statesman

"We should have a banquet on the day haters die"

Ovadia Yosef, Clergyman

"They're not even within 100 miles of Baghdad. They are not in any place. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion... They are trying to sell to the others an illusion"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"They are sick in their minds. They say they brought 65 tanks into center of city. I say to you this talk is not true. This is part of their sick mind"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"There is no presence of American infidels in the city of Baghdad"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"Our initial assessment is that they will all die"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"Blair... is accusing us of executing British soldiers. We want to tell him that we have not executed anybody. They are either killed in battle, most of them get killed because they are cowards anyway, the rest they just get captured"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"Are these the Americans? People remain silent and placate the Americans. By God, they only deserve scorn. We slaughtered them yesterday and we will continue to slaughter them"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"The fact is that as soon as they reach Baghdad gates, we will besiege them and slaughter them. Until now they have refused to do battle with us. They are just going places. One can describe them as a boa: when it feels threatened, it runs to somewhere else"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"We blocked them inside the city. Their rear is blocked"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"We are in control, they are in a state of hysteria. Losers, they think that by killing civilians and trying to distort the feelings of the people they will win. I think they will not win, those bastards"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"They are superpower of villains. They are superpower of Al Capone!"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"When we were making the law, when we were writing the literature and the mathematics, the grandfarthers of Blair and little Bush were scratching around in caves"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"We made them drink poison last night and Saddam Hussein's soldiers and his great forces gave the Americans a lesson which will not be forgotten by history. Truly"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"We butchered the force present at the airport, we are destroying them"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"The simple fact is this: they are foreigners inside a country which has rejected them. Therefore, these foreigners, wherever they go or travel, they will be rained down with bullets from everyone. Attacks by members of the resistance will only go up"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"The cruise missiles do not frighten anyone. We are catching them like fish in a river. I mean here that over the past two days, we managed to shoot down 196 missiles before they hit their target"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"Now even the American command is under siege. We are hitting it from the north, east, south and west. We chase them here and they chase us there. But at the end we are the people who are laying siege to them. And it is not them who are besieging us"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"It has been rumored that we have fired Scud missiles into Kuwait. I am here now to tell you, we do not have any Scud missiles and I don't know why they were fired into Kuwait"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"We will push those crooks, those mercenaries back into the swamp"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"Washington has thrown their soldiers on the fire"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"Today, the tide has turned, we are destroying them"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"Yesterday, we slaughtered them and we will continue to slaughter them"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"We will welcome them with bullets and shoes"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"The United Nations is a place for prostitution under the feet of Americans"

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Public Servant

"All I wanted was to be a university teacher"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"Rather, it is through conciliation and compromise that we are building a fair Iraq, a just state for all its peoples"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"Our gratitude to the American people is immense and we should never be embarrassed to express it"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"I shall stand for freedom of thought and expression in a place where it has been trampled and penalized"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"We believe that an Iraqi founding national assembly, freely elected, must decide the future of Iraq"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"Democracies, unlike dictatorships, are forgiving and generous, but they cannot survive unless they fight"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

"We must provide all kinds of freedom, personal and economic, to all Iraqis. I will fight for that"

Jalal Talabani, Politician

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