BAGHDAD, Jan 8: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said on Wednesday that the American GI’s 21st-century kit would count for nothing against the Iraqi infantryman armed with a rifle, God’s blessing — and local villagers ready to feed him on the battlefield.

But with rations tight, supplying the troops with food could be a real concern, he was quoted as conceding on Wednesday.

In remarks carried by Iraqi state television, the president told militia commanders the United States had superiority in the air but it would be a different story in face to face fighting.

“In aerial combat, there is a difference in weapons. But on the ground and on foot, men fight with their rifles,” he said in his latest defiant salvo against the US military build-up.

Saddam painted a picture of combat ranging across the Iraqi countryside and his troops relying for food on the local population rather than military logistics.—Reuters