Saddam 'appears on TV'
Footage of Saddam Hussein was shown on Iraqi TV tonight and for the first time he mentioned a specific event that happened after the start of the war.
The Iraqi president asked his people to remember the villager who he said had shot down an Apache helicopter last week.
Speculation had been mounting that he was either dead, wounded - or had fled the country with his family.
He also spoke of the invaders "by-passing the defensive lines around Baghdad" and called on the people to "hit them hard".
It was the first time Iraqi TV had broadcast footage of Saddam addressing his people since March 24.
Hours before today's broadcast information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf read a statement reported to be by Saddam, promising to defeat coalition forces at the gates of Baghdad.
Since the war began on March 20, Saddam has made two televised speeches, one in the opening hours of the fighting and another four days later.
In those two previous statements he made frequent references to Iraq's armed forces. In today's statement he spoke about the Iraqi people defeating the enemy.
He said: "Remember the villager, how he downed the Apache."
Yesterday, a televised statement attributed to Saddam exhorted the Iraqi people to "fight them with your hands".
On Wednesday, Saddam declared "victory is at hand" and urged Iraqis to fight on and defend their towns. The statement was read by an Iraqi news anchor in a military uniform.
Speculation has been growing about his condition since the Allies launch their first attack on Baghdad, which was aimed at the Iraqi leadership and described as a "decapitation" attempt.
After that attack, there were unconfirmed reports that Saddam was seen being removed from the bombed site on a stretcher.
US intelligence agencies said there was "very good intelligence" that he was in the building that was bombed and that he was with members of his family and other senior Iraqi leaders.
But US officials have stressed they do not know whether he is alive or dead, while continuing to monitor Iraqi communications to try to learn more details.
Saddam is said to have set up a system before the war by which his trusted lieutenants and local tribal leaders have the power to mount a guerrilla campaign or other military measures without waiting for his orders. This was to make him less vulnerable to US electronic detection.
But US officials have seen the absence of his strong hand on the battlefield during the war as a sign he may be dead or wounded.
General Tommy Franks, the US war commander, said in Qatar a few days ago: "I don't know whether the leader of this regime is dead or alive. I have not seen credible evidence over the last period of days that this regime is being controlled from the top."
