BAGHDAD, Iraq — A letter posted on the Internet Wednesday in the name of Saddam Hussein called on Iraqis not to hate the invaders of their country.
In Amman, Jordan, one of Saddam's lawyers, Issam Ghazzawi, told The Associated Press the letter was authentic.
"I call on you not to hate because hate does not leave space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking," said the letter published on a Web site known to represent Saddam's former Baath Party.
"I also call on you not to hate the people of the other countries that attacked us," the letter said.
Ghazzawi said the letter was written by Saddam on Nov. 5, released on Tuesday and published on his party's Web site on Wednesday, a day after an appeals court in Iraq upheld the former dictator's death sentence for ordering the killings of scores of Shiite Muslims in the city of Dujail in 1982. Saddam was convicted on Nov. 5.
"You should know that among the aggressors, there are people who support your struggle against the invaders, and some of them volunteered for the legal defense of prisoners, including Saddam Hussein," Saddam wrote in a clear reference to the U.S. attorney Ramsay Clark, who joined his defense team. "Others revealed the scandals of the aggressors and condemned them.
"Some of these people wept profusely when they said goodbye to me," Saddam wrote.