[Dog Gone]

With all due respects to their foreign ministry, they aren't the intelligence branch.

[Trust but Verify]

Has anyone seen a transcript of 'Saddam's' speech?

[VRWC_minion]

Any more information that it wasn;t Saddam ? To tell you the truth it didn't look like the file photo's I'm used to seeing of him. Not only his looks but his demeanor looked very different.

[MissAmericanPie]

The Pentagon reported that it was a tape. Just reported on Fox News.

[smith288]

My common sense intel says it was either taped or wasnt him based on the fact he didnt speak about any specific event and was acting totally different than the ordinary smooth operator

[MrBambaLaMamba]

Saw the clip, it looked like one of his doubles. Maybe Saddam is off visiting Osama. We can hope.

The best way to end war and ensure peace is to kill the enemy. Killing the enemy also demoralizes socialists, democrats, and certain entertainers.

[Hatteras]

I was a bit confused when shortly before Brian Williams and MSNBC aired the tape of Saddam they were running crawls stating that the U.S. had taken over the TV and radio broadcasts in Baghdad. I guess not.

[Allan]

I do not believe Saddam would dare to speak live on TV.
What has the NSA been doing the last year
if not working overtime
at monitoring all forms of communication in Iraq?

Surely the location of the studio could be determined immediately
and goodbye Saddam!
By now it must be extremely dangerous for any top Iraqi official
to use any form of electronic communication.

[Mr.Clark]

FOX said the Pentagon was pretty sure it was pre-recorded, as the "live" feed froze last night.

[OPS4]

That wa not Saddam and it was taped in my opinion.

OPs4 God Bless America!

[Mr.Clark]

Also, notice "Saddam" did not mention the missle attacks. If it was live or very recent, he probably would have mocked them or something. Instead, he just criticized attacks in general.

[Petronski]

I thought it was fairly easy for our techs to examine the broadcast and determine that it was videotape.

Live or tape, real or fake, it's all just a shell game. Unless 'Saddam' appeared on screen with a new edition of a newspaper, or describing very recent events beyond his control, the address proves nothing.

[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)

[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.

[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.

[mewzilla]

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

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

-----------------------------------------------

Hussein: "Long Live Palestine." Bush: "No Half-Measures."

Saddam Hussein's speech to his nation this morning claimed that the Zionists are the force behind the American attack. He concluded his talk with the call, "Long live Iraq, long live Palestine."

President Bush said after the attack began, "Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force. And I assure you: this will not be a campaign of half-measures, and we will accept no outcome but victory." Interestingly, for the past 2.5 years, the United States strongly pressured Israel against using a similar policy - "We urge restraint" was a constant refrain - in the conflict forced upon it.

[DB]

If it wasn't Saddam, he'd have to read what he was suppose to say so he got it right. He wouldn't have time to memorize it first.

If it was Saddam, he wouldn't have to read it because he'd already know what he wanted to say.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Whoever was the target last night is now one with the desert.

The Saddam on TV looked more like Jerry Colona than Baghdad's badguy.

Everything's on track and nothing is happening that hasn't been planned for months.

[AgThorn]

To this one observer, I think it was a double. CNN did a side by side photo shoot, and there were two moles on the real guy that weren't on the newscast.