Iraqi state-run television on Thursday aired a tape purporting to show Saddam Hussein addressing his people after the first U.S. airstrikes, mocking President Bush and calling the attacks a "shameful crime." It looked like Saddam — albeit puffy-faced, fatigued and grayer than he appeared in other recent appearances. But U.S. authorities said the tape, broadcast a couple of hours after the airstrikes, does not conclusively prove that Saddam is alive. Spiffy spectacles he's got there. And a very tres chic barf scarf...
The attacks were aimed at a compound which U.S. intelligence believed was housing senior Iraqi leadership — including, perhaps, Saddam. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said at a news conference Thursday that 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 prerecorded, though Saddam mentioned the date as he read from a notepad.
Or he could have been speaking from an undisclosed location in the Fiji Islands via satellite. I don't think anybody knows at this stage...
"We've reached no conclusions," said presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer on Thursday. Al-Shabab television, owned by Saddam's son Odai, reported that Saddam met Thursday 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 U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said military intelligence was picking up signs and "circumstantial evidence" that Saddam and his senior leadership were either incapacitated or out of communication with battlefield commanders.
If that's the case, it'll become obvious soon enough...