I like to call a spade a spade in politics and in everything else. That's why the zionists and the americans... The top officials hate Saddam Hussein. The White House is lying once again. He's a liar. He's the world's number one liar. He said there were chemical weapons in Iraq, and that Iraq is connected with terrorism. Later he declared: 'We didn't find any of this in Iraq.' What I want to say is that he also declared that what Saddam Hussein says is not true... This is defamation of your president of thirty five years.

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.