Authenticity of Saddam broadcast questioned

IRAQI state-run television yesterday aired a tape purporting to show Saddam Hussein addressing his people after the first US airstrikes, mocking US President George W Bush and calling the attacks a “shameful crime”.

It looked like Saddam albeit puffy-faced, fatigued and greyer than he appeared in other recent appearances. But US authorities said the tape, broadcast a couple of hours after the airstrikes, does not conclusively prove Saddam is alive.

The attacks were aimed at a compound which US intelligence believed was housing senior Iraqi leadership including, perhaps, Saddam. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday said authorities had not yet determined whether the bombing had accomplished its goal of taking out Iraq's top leaders.

The man on the tape could have been one of the doubles Saddam often uses. Or it might have been pre-recorded, though Saddam mentioned the date as he read from a notepad.

But there was nothing else that referred specifically to the strike or other events that would determine whether the address was made earlier, or made after the bombs began to fall before dawn in Baghdad.

"We've reached no conclusions," said presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer yesterday.

Was it Saddam? "There's debate about that," Rumsfeld said.

Al-Shabab television, owned by Saddam's son Uday, reported Saddam met yesterday with his top aides to "review military and other measures to resist the aggression". It said those attending the meeting included Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and Foreign Minister Naji Sabri.

But a senior US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said military intelligence was picking up signs and "circumstantial evidence" Saddam and his senior leadership were either incapacitated or out of communication with battlefield commanders. "We are seeing no co-ordinated response to our first attack," the official said. "It's little things here and there. Some individual commanders are hunkering down while others are launching small attacks and setting fires."

Saddam peppered his address with references from the Koran, read verses of poetry meant to inspire his citizens and chanted "Allahu akbar", or God is great, and said: "Long live jihad and long live Palestine."