Hussein Meets Foreigners as Cameras Roll

The Persian Gulf crisis hit home across the world today, with stark television footage of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein meeting with a clearly uneasy group of trapped foreigners, including Western children.

“As Iraqis, Arabs and human beings, we want you to be safe,” Hussein told about two dozen men, women and children, many of them English-speaking and believed to be British.

Hussein, wearing a gray suit and silk tie and speaking through an interpreter, told the Westerners in a quiet, level voice: “You are not hostages.”

It was not immediately clear when the film of the meeting was shot. The film was shown on Cable News Network.

It seemed to be an intimate meeting in a small room, with the hostages gathered on chairs and sofas and a television on in the background. Hussein sat on a simple dining chair as two officers in green uniforms stood behind him.

It appeared to be the first time Hussein had been shown on television since Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2.

“We would have liked to get to know you in other circumstances,” Hussein said. “We hope that your presence here is not going to be long.”

The Iraqi leader said he was holding Westerners to prevent war but said he did not intend to use Westerners as shields against military attacks. He said the Arabic word for prevention had been misinterpreted by foreign journalists as the word for shield .

Hussein, addressing a boy about 10 years old, ruffled his hair and said, “So when he, along with his friends and all those present here, have played their role in preventing war, then you will all be heroes of peace.”

The boy tried to pull away several times.

The hostages looked glum, but small children rolled on the floor in play, oblivious to the proceedings.

At one point, the camera panned to a teen-age boy with tears in his eyes, then quickly turned away.

Surrounded by armed guards, Hussein told the hostages they were free to ask him questions.

Several of the adults, who spoke with British and Irish accents, asked if it were possible to send their children from the country or to get messages to their families.

Hussein was noncommittal in his replies and took the opportunity to harangue the United States and other Western powers.