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.

[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.

[UncleSamUSA]

I'm trying to catch up on the "Was it really Saddam" threads here, but I can tell you one thing:

If it really was the authentic Saddam speaking, then Saddam seemed to be shocked and awed by the attempt on him because he looked terrible. Gaunt. Robotic. Flipping over pages on a notepad in a move even a high school debater would shun.

That is one shocked dude, if it was indeed the authentic dude. And what was with the glasses and the goofy beret? At first he looked like a puffy version of the aged Groucho Marx to me, complete with a not-quite-right mustache.

[MissAmericanPie]

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

[wharfrat]

You would too if your drawers were full of $hit;and the father of two sadistic idiot sons!

[steveegg]

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

I saw it on CNN; don't know if there's an FR thread on it.

[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

[TLBSHOW]

it was pure bs!

[over3Owithabrain]

I agree with the Israeli assessment about it not being taped. Saddam would have made it look better had he planned in advance. It was either a live double or a live dictator who had a very bad wake-up call.

[Lynne]

Just heard on KYW 1060 radio in Phila. that the Pentagon believes Saddam was taken out last night.

[CindyDawg]

Did any of yall hear what sounded like a gun shot during this speech?

[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.

[chiller]

When I saw the photo, I asked. Who's that? Wasn't Saddam, imho, but fits the "Saddam look-alike" mold very well. Any bets?

[maquiladora]

He gave the date and time at the start.

[OPS4]

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

OPs4 God Bless America!

[Allan]

As a side comment to my last post
I have heard from fairly reliable sources
that the location of any telephone
used in conversations in Middle Eastern countries
can be determined instantaneously
from within the USA.

[AaronInCarolina]

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

I agree MrBambaLaMamba. I think that the glasses and the beret were conspicuous attempts to limit the amount of facial, eye and hair details. Also, nothing was said that would suggest that it was in response to a direct attack on him. It was more of a canned response to a traditional wide-scale bombing attack.

[steveegg]

That was just a date, first given on the Gregorian calendar, then on the Islamic calendar..."Twentieth of March, 2003 corresponding to Seventeenth of the Muharram of 1422 Hejira."

[VRWCTexan]

I agree - my guess is that it was a very scared "double" forced to go on camera.

[NautiNurse]

Right--and one of the pundits noted there was a wavy feature to the broadcast, indicating it was a tape.

[madison46]

Yes, saw it...tape seemed to be, well, a tape. Also, never a mention of the strikes that had just occured. Something the tape did would not have occured if live according to one of Shep Smith's last reports last night.

[shattered]

Have they said any more than that? I hope they are right!

[Kevin Curry]

If any television or radio stations are still operating in Iraq, it is because we choose to allow them to operate. Why would we do that? To entice a rat out of its hole. If we leave the rat a little soapbox to climb up on to squeek to the world, we have a better chance of drawing a bead on him.

[myprecious]

When you look at side by side photos of Saddam and last night's imposter, the diffences stand out. Use a ruler to compare the proportion between each man's eyes, then the distance from eye to top of head. There is no way that big forehead is under that hat!

[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.

[shattered]

If it was a double, why are so many people reporting that it was the real SH? Why the confusion..

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I don't believe it was him.

The mustache was lighter, the face with thinner, the shoulders not as broad. Also, Saddam as a cleft chin and 'corn teeth'.

[savedbygrace]

Live braodcasts don't have tape dropouts and tape wrinkles. This was from tape, without doubt.

I am not qualified to tell if it was SH or a double, but I am convinced it was from tape.

[myprecious]

If we announce that we did get the guy the first night, then the UN whinners would demand we stop since we accomplished regime change.

On the other side, it would make it difficult to motivate their troops to keep on fighting if the threat of Saddam's revenge is removed.

Both sides have too much to loose by announcing that the snake's head is severed.

We can only hope it was accomplished.

[GWfan]

I don't think it was him either, but he apparently has so many doubles that I don't know if I could tell the difference. I am sure that Israeli intel knows, however, and so would the pentagon.

[rstevens]

Even a double would have reason to be scared to assume the identyy of Saddam. Whether or not it really was Sadamm or his double, they equally have reason to fear for their life.

[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.

[Thebaddog]

Betcha we got him but not the kids. Aziz is probably toast as well as the other major players. The kids both look like not ready for prime time players and will fold soon. Putting one of the doubles up there like a confused uncle would fit their mo in my opinion.

[Krodg]

Did any of yall hear what sounded like a gun shot during this speech?

I did. Wondered who was being assasinated.

[Anomaly in Illinois]

FR threads on Saddam speech:

http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/869554/posts

http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/869575/posts

[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.