Israel believes Saddam spoke live in morning TV broadcast

Jerusalem Post ^ | Mar. 20, 2003 | HERB KEINON

[Land_of_Lincoln_John]

Israeli Foreign Ministry experts believe that Saddam Hussein was speaking live on camera when he addressed the Iraqi nation this morning on television and radio, shortly after the US launched a war against him.

Officials at the ministry's Center for Political Studies reached this conclusion largely based on the fact that Saddam was wearing glasses, and also because the Arabic he spoke was not very sophisticated, suggesting the speech was put together on the spur of the moment.

Had the speech been staged, it is unlikely that Saddam would have been shown wearing glasses, or appearing to read his remarks rather than having them memorized, the officials said.

Saddam also appeared to be under a lot of pressure and more disorganized than usual, when he made the speech, in which he characteristically lashed out at "criminal Zionism" in addition to the United States, it was noted.

In the speech, Saddam accused the United States of committing a "shameful crime" by attacking Iraq and urged the Iraqi people to "go draw your sword" against the enemy.

"We promise you that Iraq, its leadership and its people will stand up to the evil invaders, and we will take them to such limits that they will lose their patience in achieving their plans, which are pushed by criminal Zionism," he said.

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

His hair was more grey, too, in this tape, don't you think?

[VRWC_minion]

I found some pictures on another thread and if it is a double its a darn good one. Some of the differences beign harped on can be easily explained. The guy last night had no cleft but that could be because of weight gain from the new pressure and because he seemed to be tilting his head up.

Other differences, like the glasses and the hat may simply be he wears contacts and a toupe normally.

[over3Owithabrain]

Good point - perhaps taped after the attack in haste?
Or before with the cheesy date thrown in to make it appear live? Seems like if it was taped well in advance they would have made Saddam look better - he looked like hell.
In any case, hope he is dead or gets smoked soon - don't want him hiding out w/Osama in some cave.

[VRWC_minion]

My common sense intel says it was either taped

It as taped but if you mean it was taped previously then i disagree. If there was a file photo he would have looked less harried.

[mollynme]

I'm sure I saw at least one "jump" that would indicate a splice or stop/start. Also, there were probably several of these taped with different dates stated at the beginning. They just picked the right one to broadcast. (Duh)

[Mr.Clark]

Uday is a lunatic that everyone despises, he'd be shot in a few seconds if Saddam was gone. Qusay is a bit more secure, he is in charge of the Special Republican Guard. If Saddam is dead, then Qusay might be in the process of keeping everything together. Hope we drop the hammer soon, destabilize him further. Of course, I hear we are now cutting off Baghdad both electronically and by physically destroying the fiber-optic lines, so it's probably getting a little confusing over there.

[6ppc]

Another thread shows some side by side vidcaps, and I don't think it was Saddam. Saddam has a dimple in his chin and the guy on last night didn't. Also the nose wasn't quite right.

[Dr. Frank fan]

Officials at the ministry's Center for Political Studies reached this conclusion largely based on the fact that Saddam was wearing glasses, and also because the Arabic he spoke was not very sophisticated, suggesting the speech was put together on the spur of the moment.

And they think this means it was live and not taped? I think they're forgetting that there was a very good reason for Saddam to have been rushed when he taped this message:

He had to tape several messages.

One in which he gives the date as "March 20, 2003",

one in which he gives the date as "March 21, 2003",

...and so on.

This would all have taken a lot of time.

[RummyChick]

after the azziz trap , it could be they are putting this out as disinformation to try to get saddam to do something

[reformedliberal]

Various reports state that we took out internal State-controlled radio and denied them command and control of the populace, but the international/sat media is intact.
We or the Iraqi opposition seem to be in control of the internal radio.

Remember, this is the very beginning and raw intel is almost always inaccurate. Fog of war alert.

[smith288]

I heard the transcript just gave the date.

[P.O.E.]

The giveaway for me was the eyes. They had those goo-goo goggles on him, but when he looked at the camera, he did not have Saddam's "look". The eyes are the window to the soul.

[Dr. Frank fan]

He gave the date and time at the start.

Of course he did. He said the date was March 20, 2003 because he knew (at the time he taped the message) that March 20, 2003 would be the date on which Bush's ultimatum would expire.

It's likely he also made messages for March 21, March 22, and so on waiting in the can, in case we had waited a day or two.

[mewzilla]

Don't worry, Israel. We're still going in.

[myprecious]

Saddam is too arrogant to pre-record tapes to be played after his death. That would be admitting defeat in advance.

[ChipShot]

Even if it was a double, it does not mean that Sadamn is dead. Psyops works both ways. They may put out the double knowing that we will know it is a double just to make us wonder if he is dead or alive

[sheik yerbouty]

Sure did.

[Ditter]

We didn't think it was Saddam either. Even before Fox started talking about doubts, we decided he didn't look the same. Even his body looked different, thinner shoulders. His face looked flabby & older. Also he didn't seem to be riled up enough if his country was already being bombed. I think he has already cut out. (But we cursed his moustache anyway)

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Here is my take. The guy who was playing Sadam in that video was trying to make sure we knew it was not Sadam. The obvious flipping of the paper was very dramatic, however, I got the sense the actor was saying, " hey look at this". What do you think?

[MattAMiller]

Is it possible he choose to tape it before it was broadcast so we wouldn't be able to pick up the signal? Any way to determine the age of the tape?