Hussein: 'Americans should feel the pain'

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- In an open letter to Americans, other Westerners and their governments, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Saturday condemned the United States and Arab leaders who "rushed to condemn the event" of Tuesday's terror attacks on New York and Washington.

"What happened on September 11, 2001 should be compared to what their government and their armies are doing in the world," Hussein's statement read, blaming 1.5 million Iraqi deaths on economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations.

"Americans should feel the pain they have inflicted on other peoples of the world, so as when they suffer they will find the right solution and the right path," he wrote.

The lengthy statement was read on Iraqi television Saturday.

Iraq blames the United States for the deaths of 1.5 million of its citizens as a result of the U.N. sanctions, imposed after the 1991 Gulf War. The oil-for-food program allows Iraq to sell oil and use the money to buy humanitarian goods, and is due for renewal on Tuesday.

U.S. and British aircraft also regularly patrol the so-called no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq. The Pentagon says frequent air strikes on Iraqi installations are generally intended to degrade Iraq's ability to target U.S. and British aircraft and are typically in response to what the Pentagon terms "Iraqi provocation."

Iraq claims the Western enforcement of the no-fly zones is illegal, while the United States and Britain contend that the patrols are provided for under U.N. resolutions calling for the protection of minority Shiite and Kurdish populations in southern and northern Iraq, respectively.