Defiant Saddam Broadcasts Poetic Vow to Crush the Enemy

Looking tired and puffy-faced, his moustache a little greyer than usual, Saddam Hussein appeared on television early yesterday to dispel any idea that he was killed in the American assassination attempt.

But the footage raised more questions than it answered, and its authenticity immediately came under scrutiny.

US officials said the message did not prove conclusively that the Iraqi president, who often uses doubles, was alive.

Initial investigations had suggested that the figure was indeed Saddam, the officials said, but voice analysis was yet to be completed. Assem el-Kersh, London bureau chief of the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram was in no doubt.

"It's definitely him - his voice can't be falsified," he said. "The only thing that seemed strange was the way he was reading. Normally he uses a teleprompter or improvises."

Dressed in military uniform with a black beret and large, dark-rimmed spectacles, President Saddam read his speech from a notepad, which suggests that was written in haste.

His surroundings were unusually modest, Mr Kersh noted. The president spoke with a single Iraqi flag at his side and a blue curtain behind him. To show that the message had not been recorded in advance, the Iraqi leader began with the date: "At the time of dawn prayers on this day, 20 March, 2003."

He did not refer to the night's bombings.

"The reckless criminal little Bush and his accomplices committed his crime, with which he had threatened Iraq and humanity," he continued.

Addressing the Iraqi people, he said: "I pledge to you ... that Iraq will carry out jihad with the heroic army in the Iraq of civilisation, history and belief.

"Iraq will be victorious ... Long live Iraq and Palestine. Long live our glorious nation and the lovers of peace ... Long live jihad. Long live Palestine."

The speech was not well-written or well-organised, Mr Kersh said. "I think Saddam personally wrote it."

More curiously, it included 16 lines of verse, written in the style of a classical Arabic ode but with several jarring non-classical words.

Literary experts were trying to discover whether it was a quotation from a published work or the creation of the Iraqi leader himself.

Two novels supposedly written by Saddam have become bestsellers in Iraq during the past couple of years.

Riyad abu Awad, a Palestinian literary critic, suggested that Saddam might have written the poem "to show that he is a cultured leader who can use impressive and classical types of writing".

Abd al-Muna'im Ramadan, an Egyptian poet, said that it was more likely to have been composed by Abd al-Razik abd al-Wahid, an Iraqi poet and former newspaper editor, who is a supporter of the Baghdad regime.

But the feigned elegance of his verse was not matched by the Iraqi leader's new spectacles, which aroused a mixture of curiosity and amusement.

"He's a man of very poor taste," said a London optician.

The frames are known in the trade as "heavy library" and would cost between £30 and £50 in Britain, depending on the quality, he added.

Saddam's poem

Unsheath your sword without fear, without hesitation,

Unsheath your sword and let Saturn bear witness,

Unsheath your sword, the enemy is smouldering,

No one can (intrigue) him but a prudent hero,

Saddle the horses and unleash them,

For in their wedding there is hope,

Let the lightning echo at the night of fire,

So that truth appears and injustice is defeated,

Shine, in the face of darkness as it turns deeper,

Torches, whereas the frail and the weak,

Spark your lighter and keep the fire glowing

Feared by the subservient vile,

Draw your sword and make it gleam,

No winner but the determined man,

Make the banner fly on each pole,

Pray to God, the wound will heal