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US forces 'turn down Sahhaf's surrender overtures'April 30 2003 Iraq's former information minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf, who denied to the end the presence of US forces in Baghdad, was turned down by US troops after trying to turn himself in, said the London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, citing a Kurdish official. Sahhaf had been at his aunt's house in Baghdad for the past four days and wanted US troops to arrest him so that "they can protect him" but they refused since he was not on their "most wanted" deck of playing cards, said the paper, citing Adel Murad of...

Lisbon - Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf, the Iraqi information minister whose briefings made him a worldwide celebrity during the recent war and who is now high on a list of people wanted by the United States, tried to hand himself in via a contact with Portuguese journalists, a newspaper said on Thursday. The Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias said a family claiming to be sheltering Sahhaf, reportedly in the women's section of a home in a poor neighbourhood of Baghdad, had been in contact with two journalists, but they had failed to come up with the former information chief. The reporters,...

The Iraq the Arab World Saw All Along By MAMOUN FANDY ...Today, Mr. Sahhaf's statements have also been exposed as fantasy. In Riyadh and Cairo there is a joke making the rounds. "When al-Sahhaf died they sent him 63 angels," it goes. "Three of them are asking him questions about his life, and 60 are trying to convince him that he's really dead." Westerners often miss the cynicism and sophistication of Arab world. ...Indeed, despite a war raging in one of the most important Arab capitals, there have been no reports of actual violence against American soft targets in the...

<p>Doha, Qatar -- Every recent war has created its share of media stars, but the most unlikely star to emerge from this one may be the quixotic Iraqi minister of information, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf.</p> <p>With a roguish grin and a twinkle in his eye, al-Sahhaf has remained utterly unruffled in the face of his government's seemingly imminent demise. In the process, he has gained his own cult following among many Arab television viewers.</p>

<p>As Saddam Hussein's regime crumbles, the Iraqi minister of information is fighting a one-man war of words.</p> <p>And the deeper U.S. troops penetrate into the heart of Iraq, the wilder Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf's claims have become.</p> <p>"They will be burnt. We are going to tackle them," was Al-Sahhaf's latest offering yesterday - though he was forced to give his press conference on the street because his office in the Ministry of Information has been destroyed.</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's information minister Monday denied U.S. troops had stormed Baghdad, declaring: "Be assured Baghdad is safe, secure and great." "They are sick in their minds. They say they brought 65 tanks into center of city. I say to you this talk is not true. This is part of their sick mind," Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said. "There is no presence of American infidels in the city of Baghdad at all." Sahhaf, at a rooftop news conference amid a crowd of foreign reporters, said amid sirens and clouds of dusts that Saddam Hussein's forces had given invading...

Baghdad, Iraq: Iraqi Satellite Channel Television in Arabic 2105 GMT 21 Mar 03 [Corrected version, adding source time; announcer-read report over video] Dear viewers, we present to you now a picture that closely shows the US Administration's hatred of every civilian landmark. The Iraq Satellite Channel accompanied Information Minister Muhammad Sa'id al-Sahhaf on his tour following the criminal missile strike, which the criminal Rumsfeld claimed to have targeted military targets. This report shows what kind of criminals are those who are leading the United States to inescapable death. [Begin Al-Sahhaf recording] Al-Jazirah [words indistinct] those are criminals. The world can...

Bravado Scarce in Shell-Shocked Baghdad By HAMZA HENDAWI .c The Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - State radio played patriotic music, Iraqi TV showed highlights of a soccer match and workmen swept glass from the streets Saturday. But among the people of Baghdad, bravado was scarce after two days of intense bombardments that have destroyed presidential palaces, government offices and military headquarters. The barrage continued before sunrise Saturday, when a massive explosion rocked the center of Iraq's capital just hours after Saddam Hussein's Old Palace was demolished by Allied aircraft fire. Aircraft could be heard overhead and smoke and the...

BAGHDAD, March 22 (AFP) - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has given orders for British and US prisoners of war to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention, Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf said Saturday. "We will strive to carry out the president's orders despite all the abominable crimes that are being committed against the Iraqi people by this international band of thugs," Sahhaf told a news conference. The orders, which the minister said had been issued Friday, marked a sharp change in Baghad's position. On Friday, Sahhaf had said that coalition forces were "not soldiers, they are mercenaries to...