Comical Ali video on way

Gulf War icon Comical Ali is to star in his own video featuring the sultan of spin’s greatest soundbites, it was announced today.

The Iraqi information minister became a celebrity for his eternally optimistic outlook as the Allied invasion of Baghdad loomed.

Now footage of his briefings has been gathered for a DVD and video release, Comical Ali, in the near future.

Producers of the video are donating 10% of profits to the Red Cross for Third World aid.

Ali – real name Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf – has already appeared as a cult figure on best-selling t-shirts after finding fame with his rants.

As US forces were reported to have taken over Baghdad’s airport, he famously declared: “They are nowhere near the airport, they are lost in the desert ... they cannot read a compass ... they are retarded.”

A spokesman for the firm behind the video, which calls itself the Baghdad Broadcasting Corporation, said: “The media throws up unlikely heroes, men or women that touch us, those that triumph in the face of hardship and adversity, those that strike a resonant note in these beleaguered times.

“And the last 12 months has given us one such man, a warrior of unshakeable belief, a titan amongst publicists, a hero for the modern media age.”