Print This Page Email This Page See Most Sent

• Pockets of Resistance Line Baghdad Route • U.S. Firepower in the Persian Gulf • Have Questions About The War? E-Mail Us

— By Samia Nakhoul

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said in a speech televised on Monday that U.S.-led invaders sent to topple him were trapped after underestimating Iraqi resistance and that the "evil ones" were doomed to defeat.

"I herald the near-victory for our patient fighters," Saddam said on Iraqi state television, dimming speculation that he had been killed or wounded in early air raids. "These are decisive days, oh Iraqis, so attack as God ordered."

"After underestimating you ... the enemy is trapped in the sacred land of Iraq which is being defended by its great people and army," he said, wearing a military uniform and reading a speech from behind a podium.

Saddam praised some Iraqi commanders, including those at the southern port of Umm Qasr where U.S.-led forces have faced stiff resistance. He said "victory is very near" in Basra, southern Iraq, which U.S. and British tank units were trying to secure.

"I make special mention of ... the general who lifted high the banner of jihad (holy war) and the name of Iraq in the epic battle of Umm Qasr, him and his men," Saddam said.

It was not clear when or where the 20-minute speech was delivered but the references to the fighting suggested it was no more than a day or two old. Saddam branded his opponents "evil ones" and called President Bush "satanic."

In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that CIA analysts would examine the speech to try to determine if it was Saddam's voice. Diplomats say Saddam has a number of doubles but they rarely speak when they stand in for him.

OLD OR NEW?

"But that's only half of the problem because even if it's his voice it doesn't give you any indication about when it was taped," Fleischer said. "We don't know when it was recorded, how old it may be, whether it was new."

British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon also said that the broadcast was not live but said it would make no difference to the military campaign if Saddam were alive or dead. Saddam rarely, if ever, gives live televised speeches.

Reuters correspondents in Baghdad and elsewhere in the Middle East said they believed it was Saddam. The president, who usually appears in spacious marble-lined palaces, sat in front of a white drape and an Iraqi flag hanging on a wall.

Saddam said Iraqi forces had inflicted serious losses on U.S.-led forces since the invasion began on Thursday. "The more they lose, the more they will bombard you," he warned Iraqis.

"Oh Arabs, oh faithful of the world, oh those who support justice and oppose evil, we herald the victory that God has promised us in the conflict against the lowlifes and enemies of humanity," he said.

He later appeared again on state television, smiling and in uniform, with his powerful younger son Qusay at a meeting with a Basra provincial leader of the ruling Baath party. It was not clear when the meeting took place.

Speculation has abounded about Saddam's fate since the war started on Thursday with air strikes on Baghdad intended to kill the Iraqi leadership.

Some reports said he might be dead, others that he was so badly wounded he had to receive a blood transfusion. As the speech ended, new explosions could be heard in the Iraqi capital. Saddam did not react.

Shortly after the first U.S.-led attack on Baghdad on Thursday, a tired-looking Saddam appeared on television, in a military uniform, urging his people to fight. But the CIA said that speech could have been pre-recorded.

photo credit and caption:

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein speaks on Iraqi television, broadcast March 24, 2003, hailing the Iraqi military on the fifth-day of a U.S.-led invasion to overthrow him. 'We made a lot of sacrifices to avert war,' Saddam said, praising the 'valiant' contribution of the Iraqi military in resisting a U.S. and British war against Iraq that began on Thursday. Photo by Reuters (Handout)

Copyright 2003 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.