Whoever tries to climb over our fence, we will try to climb over his house.

However Egypt's strong material and diplomatic support for Iraq in the war with Iran led to warmer relations and numerous contacts between senior officials despite the continued absence of ambassadorial-level representation. He also expressed a wish to have a live televised debate with George W.

In the early 1970s Saddam nationalized oil and other industries. He suppressed several movements particularly Shi'a and Kurdish movements seeking to overthrow the government or gain independence respectively and maintained power during the Iran–Iraq War of 1980 through 1988. Whereas some[who?] venerated him for his opposition to Israel– which included the use of military force–he was widely condemned in the west for the brutality of his dictatorship.