Posted on 07/31/2003 12:03:32 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
CIA analysis tape 'highly likely' Saddam voice
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) - The CIA has determined that a tape broadcast this week purporting to be Saddam Hussein commenting on the deaths of his two sons was almost certainly authentic, a CIA official said on Wednesday.
"We've determined it is highly likely to be him," the official told Reuters.
On the audio tape, aired by Dubai-based Al Arabiya television on Tuesday, the ousted Iraqi leader said his sons Uday and Qusay who were killed by U.S. forces last week died as martyrs, and he vowed America would be defeated.
"I mourn to you the deaths of Uday and Qusay and those who struggled with them. You are the honor of this nation," the taped message said.
U.S. officials said Saddam's comments on the deaths of his sons, killed in a battle with U.S. forces at a villa in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on July 22, probably persuaded more Iraqis that Uday and Qusay were dead.
"It should convince those few Iraqis who were doubtful that Uday and Qusay are most sincerely dead," a U.S. official said.
The U.S. military took the extraordinary measure of releasing photographs of the blood-spattered faces of Uday and Qusay and allowing journalists to see the bodies in an attempt to convince Iraqis that Saddam's sons were dead.
U.S. forces are intensely hunting for Saddam in Iraq and the United States has offered a $25 million bounty.
U.S. authorities were conducting a variety of tests, including DNA testing, on materials collected during recent raids in Iraq to determine whether Saddam had been at any of those locations, another U.S. official said.
The U.S. military has received an increased number of tips about Saddam since his sons were killed, suggesting that fear of Saddam making a comeback in Iraq had lessened, the official said.
"It's a matter of time," he said.
Five audio tapes purportedly of Saddam aired on Arab television this month in which the speaker urges Iraqis to fight U.S. forces.
CIA technical analysis of the two tapes released before the most recent one had determined they were "likely" and "probably" the voice of Saddam.
ISLAM ONLINE.net: "SADDAM PAYS TRIBUTE TO KILLED SONS" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "BAGHDAD, July 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - In a new audiotape aired by Al-Arabiya TV channel Tuesday, July 29, ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein paid tribute to his two sons Uday and Qusay who were recently killed by U.S. forces. "We thank Allah for honoring us with thei martyrdom...Beloved Iraqis, your sons and brothers -- Uday, Qusay and Qusay's son Mustafa - practiced an act of faith in the arena of jihad in Mosul, after a valiant battle with the enemy lasting a full six hours," said the voice said to be of the ousted Iraqi president. "I bring you the glad tidings, the honorable news, which is the wish of every sincere citizen struggling for the sake of Allah," he said. The voice warned that "the youth of our nation (Arab world) and Iraq (will follow) Uday, Qusay and Mustafa in the arena of jihad." The tape came exactly a week after Uday and Qusay, Mustafa and a bodyguard were killed in a massive U.S. raid on a villa in the northern city of Mosul. The U.S. decision to allow TV journalists to film the bodies was harshly criticized by law experts, human rights advocates and media specialists."The armies of aggression equipped with all kinds of weapons of land forces could not reach them until aircraft were used (to bomb) the house in which they were present. "Once more I tell our faithful people and our glorious (Arab) nation that (we) sacrifice lives and money for the sake of Allah, Iraq and our nation ... If Saddam Hussein had 100 sons other than Uday and Qusay, Saddam Hussein would have offered them on the same path (of martyrdom)," said the speaker. "I sacrifice my sons, fortune and myself for the sake of Allah Almighty...May Allah bless the youth of Iraq...Allah is Greater and the Paradise is for the martyrs."Long live our nation and long live Palestine and down with the Zionism and the two liars (Bush and Blair) and their agents," the voice concluded. The voice gave the date of the recording as July 2003, without specifying the day.") (July 29, 2003) (Read More...)
HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE.com: "SADDAM SENT TRADE MISSION TO NIGER" by Terence P. Jeffrey (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Bottom line: Saddam sent a trade mission to a nation that exports uranium. The IAEA interviewed Saddam’s emissary--who also had been accredited as Saddam's ambassador to Niger--in Iraq in the presence of an Iraqi monitor. ElBaradei went to the Security Council and revealed that the Iraq-Niger documents were forgeries, and that an Iraqi official had gone to Niger in 1999, but he did not say that the Iraqi went to this uranium-exporting nation as (in Ms. Fleming’s words) "part of a trade mission." CIA Director George Tenet in a July 11 statement said an outside investigator the CIA sent to Niger (whom former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson identified as himself in a New York Times op-ed) talked to a former Niger official who "said that in June 1999 a businessman approached him and insisted that the former official meet with an Iraqi delegation to discuss ‘expanding commercial relations’ between Iraq and Niger. The former official interpreted the overture as an attempt to discuss uranium sales." British Prime Minister Tony Blair said at the White House last week: "[L]et me just say this on the issue to do with Africa and uranium. The British intelligence that we have we believe is genuine." Who struck closer to the truth here, the Brits or the IAEA? The jury's still out, but don't bet against the Brits.") (July 23, 2003) (Read More...)
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