Comical Ali is back on TV

Comical Ali, the former Iraqi information minister who gained notoriety during the war for wildly implausible claims of victory – made his first TV appearance today since the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

The Gulf Al-Arabiya satellite network showed a few seconds of footage of Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf and said it had conducted a 30 minute interview in Baghdad with him, which was to air tomorrow.

The ex-minister did not speak in today’s clip.

The TV network said al-Sahhaf claimed he had surrendered to American forces, was interrogated and released.

The interview came a day after a British newspaper report that he had been taken into US custody, and the Dubai-based TV station said it was aimed to dispel that claim.

The interview will include “important information about the last war and the fall of the Iraqi regime,” al-Arabiya said.

He “was exclusively interviewed in his hide-out in Baghdad,” it said, but did not specify where.

In the clip, al-Sahhaf appeared fit, but with greying hair – a departure from his previous look of black hair and military uniform.

Al-Sahhaf became a household sight on television screens worldwide when he appeared daily to brief the international press in Baghdad before and during the US led war, speaking about Iraqi military successes and heaping insults on coalition forces and President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Al-Sahhaf disappeared the day Baghdad fell to coalition forces on April 9, and reports have said he was hiding in a relative’s home in Baghdad, fearing revenge from angry Iraqis. Al-Sahhaf is not on the list of the 55 most wanted Iraqi officials.

Al-Arabiya has been linked to the ex-minister before: A month ago, it announced that it would offer him a job as a commentator on Iraqi affairs if it located him. He might not be credible, the station’s officials said then, but he is popular and was in the Iraqi regime.

Ali al-Hadithi, the station’s general supervisor, said today that the issue was still being discussed.

“We managed to get the interview today. The other issue will be discussed once he leaves Iraq,” al-Hadithi said.