IRAQI TELEVISION BROADCASTS APOLOGY TO KUWAIT FROM SADDAM HUSSEIN, 2002-12-07 (photo)

Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf reads a letter from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to the Kuwaiti people in this still from Iraqi television, December 7, 2002. Saddam apologized Saturday for his 1990-1991 occupation of the oil-rich emirate but blasted their rulers for conspiring with the United States against Iraq. "We apologize to God for any deed that angered him in the past, which we might not have known of and is blamed on us, and on this basis we also apologize to you," said the letter. Kuwait's parliament speaker dismissed the apology as meaningless. Parliament Speaker Jassem al-Kharafi and several Kuwaiti MPs also slammed Saddam for trying to stir up unrest in the Gulf state by urging Kuwaitis to struggle against foreign armies - an apparent reference to the U.S. military presence in Kuwait. REUTERS/RTV HB/