Saddam Hussein's article, published in the Iraqi newspaper `Al-Jumhuriyah' on Saturday January 23, singled out Saudi Arabia for becoming a "bridge to the foreigner" and ignoring the best interests of its own people.

The following are excerpts of Saddam's article reported by the Iraqi news agency INA:

"Beware of covetous foreigners"

Brothers ... God has granted some countries in our nation, including Iraq, natural wealth in several forms, led by oil, which has paved the way for technical advancement.

The Saudi rulers have caused great catastrophes for the Arab nation and violated its rights ever since they became a bridge to the foreigner.... The price per barrel of Arab light oil from 1973-74 until 1975 was around 30 dollars.

After 24 years - that is now - it has dropped to less than 9 dollars per barrel, which is a quarter of the price 24 years ago; that is, in 1974 and 1975.

Here, we must take into consideration the factor of inflation in the prices of commodities, goods and standard services, which have witnessed a great increase compared to the prices in 1975.

Why has this happened? And what does it mean?

Saudis "in league with USA"

The Saudi rulers were not only content to mortgage their oil in terms of production, marketing and prices but also were deterred from transforming it into oil by-products on a large scale.

They were also deterred from exploration and investments with respect to all the other raw material and natural resources they have as it would reduce the importance of oil as a revenue-generating source ... By doing this, they act on behalf of the United States and Zionism to weaken any national and pan-Arab rule.

This explains why the Saudi rulers emphasize the need to disarm Iraq of its weapons, although this has been achieved.

The existence of weapons that can establish some kind of balance with the Zionist entity will negate the saying that the only thing the Arabs, including their rulers, can do is to submit to the US-Zionist schemes because Israel has an edge over the Arabs.

USA controls oil prices

It became possible in the early 70s to greatly increase oil prices, after some Arabs under pressure from the Arab masses had drawn attention to the possible use of the nation's oil resources in a national and pan-Arab manner against those who aligned themselves with the Zionist entity in the 1973 war against the Arabs.

However, this did not last long. The United States reached agreement with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and perhaps others on securing a strategic oil reserve that would enable the United States to carry out its plans of keeping oil prices reasonable.

The word reasonable is not a general term. The term reasonable prices mean they should be reasonable for the United States only and not for any other party.

In this way, the United States has started to practically control oil prices in the entire world to a large extent, and prices were no longer affected by the law of supply and demand.

So it became capable of embroiling the oil-producing countries in a series of crises according to its strategy and Zionist desire.

It resorted to fabricating a fluctuation in prices upwards and downwards at certain periods whenever it wanted to.

This made any country which relies on oil revenues unable to draft a stable budget, including a budget for development and progress.

It made Saudi Arabia and Kuwait - in addition to others - resort to the pretext of increasing revenues by selling oil in excess of the quantities specified by Opec.

This measure was bound to increase the quantity of oil which was expected not be sold, and thus would lead to a drop in prices.

It has also seriously harmed the interests of the member states and the Saudi people.

So, prices drop when the United States and Zionism want them to based on their policy. In this way, they increase their oil reserve or fill any shortages in this reserve.

USA profits at Arab expense

Thus, the United States makes profits three times at the expense of the Arabs.

Beside making profits by turning oil into oil and petrochemical by-products and selling them at their set prices, it earns ... taxes on the marketed oil products and the oil companies' profits.

These taxes exceed by many times the prices of the crude oil marketed to it. The United States also makes profits when it forces oil prices into planned fluctuations in the markets.

Therefore, it occasionally reaps the difference in price between the state of relative stability and any increase that it decides in the oil prices for a specific period of time before the distant oil can reach the Western markets.

This policy causes substantial confusion in world economic and financial markets.

Naturally, the profits will be reaped by the party that plans and initiates this policy.

It also shows how deeply the Arab nation and all of humanity are stabbed by the knives of the United States and Zionism.

We have no solution to propose as a first step but for the will of decision-making in these two countries to be activated and for it to look at the interests of the people and nation first and foremost so as to be able to do what should be done towards those people's national, pan-Arab and human responsibilities.