New ‘Saddam’ tape surfaces
A new tape recording reportedly featuring the voice of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been aired on a Lebanese TV station.
The voice on the tape urges Iraqis to overthrow the occupying forces, declaring: ‘Victory is coming. It is coming, God willing.’
Recommending ‘covert’ action against Coalition forces as ‘the appropriate means for resistance’, it states: ‘Your main mission, Iraqis, is to evict the invaders from Iraqi territory.’
A reporter from the station, LBC, said the tape had been left in an envelope at the door of his office in Baghdad.
It is the second recording said to be a message from Saddam Hussein in the last week.
Yesterday CIA officials said the first recording, broadcast on Arab television station al-Jazeera, was probably authentic. In it the voice announces that he was still in Baghdad, staying with a ‘comrade’ in Baghdad.
Al-Jazeera said the tape was dated June 14th – six weeks after the end of major hostilities.
The second tape has not yet been independently authenticated.
The new tape will deal a further blow to the Coalition, which is keen to put an end to rumours that Saddam is alive and well and living in Iraq.
The US has placed a £15 million bounty on Saddam Hussein’s head and £9 million for information leading to the capture of his sons Uday and Qusay, or evidence that they are dead.
Attacks on allied troops have escalated in recent weeks and Iraqis are appearing increasingly frustrated with conditions in the country since the war ended.
