TV shows Saddam cheered in the streets

IRAQI television yesterday showed President Saddam Hussein being cheered on the streets, in the first footage of the Iraqi leader in public aired since the start of the war on March 20.

Saddam appeared in olive green military garb on the main square of the al-Mansour residential neighbourhood of Baghdad, flanked by just a few bodyguards but with a firearm in a holster.

Smiling broadly, the Iraqi leader accepted several kisses of his hand from the jubilant crowd, which chanted "With our blood and our souls, we shall redeem you" and "Bush, Bush, listen well, we all love Saddam Hussein".

Earlier, in an unannounced television broadcast designed to rally his people, Saddam called on Iraqis to strike at the US-led coalition.

The speech made only one topical reference to the capture of an Apache helicopter March 24, which Iraqi officials have said was brought down by farmers in central Iraq.

"Perhaps you remember the valiant Iraqi peasant and how he shot down an American Apache with an old weapon," Saddam said in the brief speech.

US and British have expressed doubt about whether the Iraqi leader was alive since the opening day of the war, when cruise missiles hit a compound in Baghdad where Saddam was believed to be hiding.

References to the helicopter suggest the video was made after the strike aimed at killing him, a US intelligence official said.

Broadcasts of the street scene and speech was some of the strongest evidence yet that the Iraqi president survived the attack.

Saddam also said the US-led forces had "bypassed your (Iraqi) armed defences" in the battlefield and urged his followers to "strike them forcefully, strike them".

The grim-faced Saddam appeared in a military uniform and beret, with an Iraqi flag over his right shoulder. He paused occasionally to turn the pages of a notebook as he spoke.

He began by saying coalition forces had failed to shake the steadfastness of the Iraqi people. He called on Baghdad's people to resist and to stick to "your principles, your patriotism and the honour of men and women".

"Hit them with force, resist them, O people of Baghdad, whenever they advance upon your city and remain true to your principles, your faith and your honour.

"You beloved ones, the people of Baghdad and the people of Iraq, the vanguard of victory, with the will of God you will be victorious and by the will of God they will be defeated and damned."

Saddam added that the coalition forces were avoiding confrontation in Baghdad. "They are trying to avoid those lines ... they would find them strong and then they would avoid engaging, instead they would skirt these lines, just like we expected before."