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CNN Sunday Morning

Hussein's Birthday Celebration Brings Defiance of U.S. Threats

Aired April 28, 2002 - 10:04   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get more now on the birthday celebrations in Iraq. Our Jane Arraf has been watching the display of support for Saddam Hussein on his 65th birthday. Jane, no doubt, there's anti-U.S. protest, too.

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well there are a lot of messages in this one, Kyra. It's no ordinary birthday. It's the 65th birthday of a president who is facing increasingly explicit threats from the United States, that this could actually be his last in power.

Presumably in Curdish controlled northern Iraq, they weren't celebrating, but elsewhere the government organized celebrations across the country. In Baghdad, hundreds of thousands of students let out of school, government workers and other Iraqis rallied on support of the Iraqi president. A lot of people did stay home, but those who were bussed to those locations in Baghdad, carried his photo and chanted in demonstration in support of the man they said they would give up their lives for.

The highest profile demonstration, however, was in Tekrit, President Hussein's hometown, north of Baghdad. The president himself wasn't there for security reasons, but his cousin Ali Hassan Al-Majid (ph) cut a modest birthday cake in his honor. As part of the festivities, carried live for the first time on Iraqi television, Mahid shot a revolver in the air in a traditional sign of celebration and also in defiance.

That defiance is a major theme in these festivities. The demonstrators chanted they would give their blood and souls for the president. Some carried signs in English saying, "We Choose Saddam." The demonstrations themselves, organizers said, were a message to the United States and Israel that Iraqis would fight to the last for their president. This latest report from the United States indicated they may very well have to -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jane, Saddam Hussein not being seen in any of these celebrations. You know, there's been rumors in the past about his health, about his condition. What do you know?

ARRAF: That's a really interesting thing. Because we hadn't heard those rumors for a long time. You're absolutely right. About a year ago there was talk that he was really in very bad health. Lately, he's been appearing quite healthy. Although we're not seeing him in person, we're seeing him almost nightly on Iraqi television. Not appearing at the birthday celebrations isn't a new thing. He hasn't really appeared in about 10 years and he very much limits public appearances.

This is a man who has a lot of enemies inside and outside Iraq. We expect to be seeing him on Iraqi television tonight in a traditional birthday celebration usually filmed at an undisclosed location with hundreds of children. As for rumors of his health, we haven't heard those so much. It seems, indeed, he's in a fight for survival that is coming up, but it's not so much his health that's an issue -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jane Arraf, live from Baghdad, thank you.

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