Iraqi President Saddam Hussein addresses the nation, marking the 79th anniversary of the Iraqi armed forces January 6. President Hussein said on Thursday sanctions on Iraq were crumbling away of their own accord and avoided any mention of a U.N. resolution that could ease crippling trade embargoes against Baghdad. Maintaining a barrage of criticism against the United Nations - and the United States and Britain in particular - Iraq said it had only received half the medical supplies from contracts signed as part of an Iraqi deal with the U.N. Saddam, in a broadcast to the nation on the 79th anniversary of the Iraqi armed forces, told his people not to expect the United Nations to lift the sanctions that have ruined their economy for nearly a decade.

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