[Blackhawk]

Fox News just said they received a bulletin that "Saddam Hussain will make a televised address to the nation shortly."

For what it's worth....

Update: To be in about an hour -- 3 AM EST.

[sm]

Thanks
I don't have cable, and the rabbit ear version of Fox is off the air.
Website maybe??

[Blackhawk]

It's now billed as being of "historic significance."

www.foxnews.com

However, I expect that all the news sites will jump in with accounts of whatever happens.

Never seen a dead man talk myself.... :rolleyes:

[Airwolf]

If he is alive and it's a real-time broadcast, watch for him to be surrounded by "civilians" (and probably some kids too).

He knows damn well we wouldn't target him under those conditions.

[sm]

Great,
Rabbit ear version of Fox still off...arrggh...those 'other networks...

Yes I do have Fox web addy tabbed and checking in...

[sm]

Just finished watching via the NBC affliate.

First impression this is not the same person shown on earlier video we suspect a double was used.

Second , IMO not live, but taped. SH did not mention the recent events ie the POW's. NO specifics, and sentences seemed to be 'cut", hard to tell since commentary referred to his use of 'poetry'. Can't spell the name of a battle scene, but signifigant enough that if live would have been meaningful.[Nassaria sp?]

Commentry makes a good point that even before war started he would have a general idea of geographics of Allies activity and advancement.

[clange]

Yeah he didnt mention nasiriyah, the pows, the arab summit, his palaces being bombed, or any of that. He mentioned basara, Umm Qsar, and mosul but it was obvious that we would come in that way. There were a few glitches in the tape. Pretty sure it was taped and the content suggests quite a while ago.

A couple things that worry me though are he mentioned us avoiding his troops, "trying to avoid engaging our forces" -- a clear reference to the U.S. strategy of avoiding having to enter provincial cities -- adding that "in most cases they are using their warplanes to attack our troops without engaging them in fighting." (which IIRC we said we were going to do, it was also what we did last time, bombed them alot before engaging) and the fadayeen, "Whenever they penetrated our territory, they were faced with fierce resistance from Iraqi people, tribes, party members, Saddam's Fedayeen and security forces," he said.

The fedayeen is what caused us so much headache yesterday but agian this could be a case of him getting lucky with propoganda.

All in all i'd say its evidence he's dead or incapacitated.

[Justin]

Yeesh.
Even though I don't speak a word of Arabic its quite evident that Saddam is a blowhard.

Couple of things that struck me as being odd:
The guy who first came on was standing in front of a blue background. When Saddam came on, the background was white (duh) and the camera was in a different position.

They kept switching between two different camera angles, which was not only incredibly annoying, but highly unprofessional. (I can here the director now talking to the production assistants over the headsets...'Cue glorious Saddam the almighty to Camera 2 now.')

In a couple of places the video stuttered, as if frames had been dropped or the video had been edited. Though in fairness, this could have also been an issue with the video feed being either sent via satellite, or being run off of a digital system as opposed to tape.

Oh, and one last thing: Iraqi state television's graphics are absolutely godawful. When that logo on the blue background was popped up on the screen I started having flashbacks to the original 'Star Trek' series. For a brief second, I expected a Romulan leader to step out and start speaking.

[Blackhawk]

Doesn't sound like much of "historical significance" to me.

Since he wasn't on a gurney with an IV stuck in his arm, I'll bet it was canned and edited.

[Tamara]

A couple things that worry me though are he mentioned us avoiding his troops, "trying to avoid engaging our forces" -- a clear reference to the U.S. strategy of avoiding having to enter provincial cities -- adding that "in most cases they are using their warplanes to attack our troops without engaging them in fighting."

Yeah, we heard that a lot from the Boche, too. "Cowardly Americans! When they encounter resistance, they just get on the radio and call for artillery and airstrikes to blast their way clear, rather than bravely charging machinegun nests to demonstrate their courage and soldiering skills!"

You know, I hate that for ya, Achmed...