The jailed former president made these "recommendations" during his first meeting with one of his Iraqi lawyers on December 16, spokesman Ziad Khassawneh told a press conference in Amman.
Khassawneh reported Saddam's remarks after he and several members of the legal team, including a Lebanese-French lawyer and a Libyan, were briefed on the meeting Saddam had with Khalil Al Duleimi.
"The president asked about the Iraqi people... and stressed the need for their unity," Khassawneh said.
Saddam chose a verse from the Koran, Islam's holy book, to insist on Iraqi unity: "Hold on to God's law and don't scatter," Khassawneh said.
"He also insisted that Iraq's religious leaders, of all factions, have a role and must bear the historical responsibility for what is happening to Iraq," Khassawneh said.
Another lawyer, Lebanese Adnan Dannawi, said that during the meeting Saddam asked to be briefed on developments in Iraq and was told by Dulaimi that the country is preparing to hold elections.
"At that point the president said to Dulaimi the Iraqi people should 'be wary of this issue'," Dannawi said.
Asked by reporters if Saddam appealed for the Iraqi people to boycott the polls, Dannawi replied. "He did not say anything more."
Dulaimi was not present at the press conference and his colleagues said he returned to Iraq for professional and personal reasons.
The team insisted that they will hold the US forces and the interim government in Iraq responsible for the safety of Dulaimi, adding that he had received many threats and was ambushed and shot on 12 days ago.
They said that the meeting between Saddam and Dulaimi lasted four-and-a-half hours.
"Dulaimi was driven to see Saddam in a tank. He did not know where he was taken but we believe the meeting took place in Baghdad," Khassawneh said, adding that the meeting was held under US military supervision.
"The president is held in a three [meter] by five room that does not befit a president... and he is completely cut off from the world," Khassawneh said, adding, however, that Saddam was in good health and high spirits.
But Saddam complained about the International Committee of the Red Cross, saying that they were not "doing their humanitarian job" and that he had only received two letters from his family since being captured in December 2003.
His first words to Dulaimi were borrowed from a popular saying: "If you are not a head, don't be anything else because that would make you a tail," Khassawneh said.
Saddam went on to recite from the Koran and said: "Don't be weak, don't grieve, for you are the best," he added.
The legal team, appointed by Saddam's wife Sajida and his daughters, said that during the meeting Saddam formally gave Dulaimi a power of attorney to be represented by the Jordan-based group, giving them full powers.
The lawyers also reiterated that the Iraq Special Tribunal, which wants to try Saddam and 11 of his lieutenants on charges of crimes against humanity, is illegal and that the trial itself would be invalid.
© 2004 Agence France-Presse
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