Definition of victory does not hinge on finding Saddam

THE White House said yesterday it would consider military action in Iraq a success even if US forces failed to find President Saddam Hussein, whose appearance on Iraqi television could prove he survived a US bombing raid on the first night of the war.

While finding Saddam either dead or alive would be "helpful", White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush's "definition of victory" was removing the current government from power and eliminating the country's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Fleischer made the comments just before Iraqi television broadcast a speech apparently by Saddam urging the people of Baghdad to "strike the enemy with force" and predicted victory over the invading US and British troops.

In the address, Saddam mentioned the shooting down of a US Apache helicopter by an Iraqi farmer in late March.

The mention of the incident, originally reported by Iraqi officials on March 24, may be the first clear proof the Iraqi president survived a US bombing on Baghdad on March 20 that targeted him and his two sons.

The broadcast of the speech was shortly followed by another, this time apparently showing Saddam meeting his people on the streets of Baghdad.

The US Central Command dismissed the street scene as "a pretty bad performance" that would have no impact on the US campaign.

The images broadcast on Iraqi TV showed Saddam in public for the first time since the start of the war, besieged by a cheering crowd of people, some waving rifles and others rushing up to kiss his hand.

If Saddam eludes US forces, he could join the ranks of America's most wanted, a list now topped by al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, whom Washington blames for the September 11 attacks on the United States.

"What's important in the president's judgment, is that the regime be disarmed and the regime be changed so the Iraqi people can be free and liberated," Fleischer said earlier.

Certainly any clear resolution about Saddam Hussein's fate helps provide some clarity to that," Fleischer said.

"But the definition of victory is those two factors that I cited, that the president has cited."

Bush administration officials are considering quickly installing an interim Iraqi authority in areas under the control of US-led forces while the government in Baghdad is cut off from the rest of the country.

Several hundred US government officials are already encamped in Kuwait waiting on the word to go into Iraq to set up the post-war Iraq Interim Authority under the leadership of retired Gen Jay Garner.

Fleischer declined to comment on any US plans to get the interim authority quickly up and running in southern Iraq, saying the shooting war was still under way.

"This is still a battlefield in many ways, in many places, and that remains the primary mission still is to win the war," Fleischer told reporters.