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"Saddam" Speaks

Aired April 04, 2003 - 13:03   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Intelligence sources tell CNN today's televised speech by Saddam Hussein does, indeed, appear to have been the real thing. They say it's the strongest evidence presented so far that the Iraqi leader is alive.
Now another tape has been released and it seems to add up to a concerted effort on the part of the Iraqi leadership to send some kind of signal to the Iraqi people and beyond. The story obviously is still developing.

With the very latest, though, our national security correspondent David Ensor. He's standing by in Washington -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, as you say, clearly, Saddam Hussein is making a serious effort now to make it clear to his people and to others that he's still alive and he is still in charge of Baghdad. These pictures that we've just seen on Iraqi television and rebroadcast by other Arab satellite channels appear to show Saddam Hussein in the streets of Baghdad, being cheered and greeted by other Iraqis on the streets there. Not a very large crowd, but still a very enthusiastic one.

Intelligence officials are analyzing this tape and the one that was broadcast earlier. Concerning this one, they say it could be exactly what it appears to be. At the same time, that could be a body double. That is not necessarily Saddam Hussein. He has a history of using several different individuals who look like him and in some cases, have had cosmetic surgery to look even more like him at public appearances. The key question really will be the voice.

And here, we should turn to the other tape that was broadcast earlier today of Saddam Hussein giving a speech to the Iraqi people on Iraqi television. That tape being analyzed now by intelligence experts. The quickest thing they can do is the voice analysis and they'll probably be able to say, before the day's over, whether they believe, at least initially this is the voice of Saddam Hussein. On the assumption that it is, it is the first really telling evidence that he may, indeed, have survived the March 19 bombing. Because on this tape, as you mentioned, for the first time, he talks about an incident that has occurred since that bombing.

That incident, of course, which was much broadcast on Iraqi television, was the downing of an Apache helicopter, an American helicopter, and the Iraqis said it was done by one particular villager, one farmer, using an old bolt-action rifle. Now U.S. officials say it was not, in fact, one bolt-action rifle that brought down the helicopter, but nonetheless, that incident did occur well after March 19. And so, having Saddam Hussein talk of that on tape is the first real concrete evidence that he survived what was a massive bombing on March 19 of a leadership bunker, with U.S. intelligence having very strong evidence, they felt, that he was in that bunker, and of course their hope was to get him.

These tapes today suggest they may have failed in that effort. They are not, however -- U.S. officials are not saying anything authoritative about that yet. They are obviously examining these tapes closely. There's also the question of whether this is a body double, and, of course, when was this tape made of Saddam in the streets? Was it made in the last couple of days or not?

One official pointing out to me, there is some smoke visible in the distance, in one of the shots, but that isn't definitive. So this is something -- this, as you say, is a story that's in motion at this moment, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, David. Stand by briefly.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired April 4, 2003 - 13:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Intelligence sources tell CNN today's televised speech by Saddam Hussein does, indeed, appear to have been the real thing. They say it's the strongest evidence presented so far that the Iraqi leader is alive.
Now another tape has been released and it seems to add up to a concerted effort on the part of the Iraqi leadership to send some kind of signal to the Iraqi people and beyond. The story obviously is still developing.

With the very latest, though, our national security correspondent David Ensor. He's standing by in Washington -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well Wolf, as you say, clearly, Saddam Hussein is making a serious effort now to make it clear to his people and to others that he's still alive and he is still in charge of Baghdad. These pictures that we've just seen on Iraqi television and rebroadcast by other Arab satellite channels appear to show Saddam Hussein in the streets of Baghdad, being cheered and greeted by other Iraqis on the streets there. Not a very large crowd, but still a very enthusiastic one.

Intelligence officials are analyzing this tape and the one that was broadcast earlier. Concerning this one, they say it could be exactly what it appears to be. At the same time, that could be a body double. That is not necessarily Saddam Hussein. He has a history of using several different individuals who look like him and in some cases, have had cosmetic surgery to look even more like him at public appearances. The key question really will be the voice.

And here, we should turn to the other tape that was broadcast earlier today of Saddam Hussein giving a speech to the Iraqi people on Iraqi television. That tape being analyzed now by intelligence experts. The quickest thing they can do is the voice analysis and they'll probably be able to say, before the day's over, whether they believe, at least initially this is the voice of Saddam Hussein. On the assumption that it is, it is the first really telling evidence that he may, indeed, have survived the March 19 bombing. Because on this tape, as you mentioned, for the first time, he talks about an incident that has occurred since that bombing.

That incident, of course, which was much broadcast on Iraqi television, was the downing of an Apache helicopter, an American helicopter, and the Iraqis said it was done by one particular villager, one farmer, using an old bolt-action rifle. Now U.S. officials say it was not, in fact, one bolt-action rifle that brought down the helicopter, but nonetheless, that incident did occur well after March 19. And so, having Saddam Hussein talk of that on tape is the first real concrete evidence that he survived what was a massive bombing on March 19 of a leadership bunker, with U.S. intelligence having very strong evidence, they felt, that he was in that bunker, and of course their hope was to get him.

These tapes today suggest they may have failed in that effort. They are not, however -- U.S. officials are not saying anything authoritative about that yet. They are obviously examining these tapes closely. There's also the question of whether this is a body double, and, of course, when was this tape made of Saddam in the streets? Was it made in the last couple of days or not?

One official pointing out to me, there is some smoke visible in the distance, in one of the shots, but that isn't definitive. So this is something -- this, as you say, is a story that's in motion at this moment, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, David. Stand by briefly.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com