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Purported Saddam Tape Urges Iraq to Fight

Wednesday, May 7, 2003
(1:24 PM)
By Salah Nasrawi
Associated Press Writer

Last week, the London based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper said it received a statement from Saddam urging Iraqis to “rise up” against occupation. To reporters familiar with other documents attributed to Saddam, neither the handwriting nor the signature appeared similar, but the newspaper said sources close to Saddam confirmed both were genuine.

Workers check equipment at the Daura refinery outside Baghdad, Wednesday, May 7, 2003. The refinery runs at less than 50 percent of capacity due to problems getting oil from upcountry, creating huge lines at gas stations in capital city.
Image Credit: Ali Haider -- AP

CAIRO, Egypt -- AP
In a new audiotape - the first allegedly made by Saddam Hussein since U.S.-led forces ousted his regime - the deposed Iraqi leader urges his countrymen to fight foreign occupation.

The Sydney Morning Herald said it received the 14-minute tape from two men in Baghdad on Monday who said they were trying to get it to Al-Jazeera or Al-Arabiya, two Arab satellite television channels.

There was no way to confirm if the tired-sounding voice on the tape was that of Saddam, although the accent and phrasing were akin to that of the ousted leader.

“Through this secret means I am talking to you from inside great Iraq and I say to you, the main task for you, Arab and Kurd, Shiite and Sunni, Muslim and Christian and the whole Iraqi people of all religions, your main task is to kick the enemy out from our country,” the speaker said.

By way of establishing that the recording was made recently, the voice on the tape noted some Iraqis had celebrated Saddam's 66th birthday on April 28 even though he was not in power. The speaker referred to Saddam in the third person, a practice common in Arabic.
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2003 © The Associated Press.

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