Saddam upsets theories of his death

NEAR BAGHDAD, Iraq: With his name stripped from Baghdad’s airport by invading coalition forces, President Saddam Hussein appealed to his people to resist US soldiers — in a televised speech that upset American and British theories that Saddam had died on the war’s opening day.

In his address yesterday, the Iraqi leader made references to recent news: last week’s downing of a US helicopter and the breaching of defensive lines around Baghdad on Thursday. US intelligence officials said it provided evidence Saddam had survived an American missile attack on a Baghdad bunker March 20. Arguing that Saddam was either dead or wounded, US officials had suggested that his two earlier televised speeches since the war’s start made no reference to current events and could have been taped weeks or months ago. As a US armoured force consolidated control of Baghdad’s airport yesterday, anti-Saddam Kurdish guerrillas backed by American air power made gains in northern Iraq and British Marines tightened their hold on the southern city of Basra.

Saddam’s aides kept up their bravado even as explosions could be heard in downtown Baghdad from the airport on the city’s edge. Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf pledged an “unconventional” counterattack that would leave American soldiers without “a great chance of surviving”. He said, however, that he was not referring to an attack with weapons of mass destruction. Inside the airport, American troops moved through its underground tunnels to clear them of danger. One brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, helicopters included, arrived to use the grounds as a base of operation close to the capital. The 101st is highly trained in urban warfare.

Early today, Navy Lt Cmdr Charles Owens, a spokesman for the US Central Command in Doha, Qatar, said that US forces were still at the airport, but he wouldn’t comment on ongoing operations or whether Iraq had staged some kind of counterattack. He expressed confidence, however, that whatever the Iraqis may try, they will meet defeat, saying: “It’s a futile effort for them to set out there and try to engage us.” Earlier yesterday, Iraqi TV showed shots purporting to be of Saddam greeting a crowd of joyful supporters in Baghdad. But it was unclear if the scenes were filmed Friday or, indeed, if the man in beret and uniform really was Saddam or one of his supposed doubles.

The Iraqi leader urged Baghdad’s people to resist the invaders. “Strike them with the force of faith wherever they come close to you ... resist them, oh people of valiant and beautiful Baghdad,” he said. It was uncertain how many Iraqis even saw Saddam’s TV plea since electricity remained out in the capital — though it was restored to parts of the city later. Iraqis were fleeing a possible attack on the city in trucks, buses and cars that were backed up bumper-to-bumper for ten kilometres (6 miles) on roads heading north. The vehicles were loaded with blankets, food, furniture, heaters, television sets, cooking pots, mattresses and pillows.