Al-Arabiya TV Airs 'Saddam Tape' Mourning Sons

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 30, 2003

Al-Arabiya TV Airs 'Saddam Tape' Mourning Sons

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Tape attributed to Saddam mourns sons

The Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite TV on Tuesday broadcast an audio tape purportedly from Saddam Hussein, in which the former Iraqi president mourned his sons Udayand Qusay, who were killed by US forces last week.

The voice on the tape said Uday and Qusay were martyrs who diedfor Iraq and they "are the honor of this nation."

"I mourn to you the deaths of Uday and Qusay and those who struggled with them. You are the honor of this nation," the tape said.

It added that "We thank God for honoring us with their martyrdom for his sake" after a "valiant battle with the enemy lasting six hours."

The tape called on the youth of the Arab world and Iraq to follow Uday, Qusay and Qusay's son Mustafa "in the arena of jihad (holy war)," adding the United States will be defeated.

The tape was the second attributed to Saddam in just over a week. The first was recorded on July 20 and aired on July 23, one day after the US-led coalition forces killed Uday and Qusay in a six-hour battle in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

In that tape, Saddam said "the war (against the US-led coalition) is not over," urging Iraqi forces to continue fighting US troops and increasing attacks.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US military announced that a close bodyguard of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured in a predawn operation in Saddam's hometown Tikrit.

Adnan Abdullah Abid al-Musslit, "one of Saddam's lifelong bodyguards," was captured alongside a security chief and a militialeader. The US forces were "close to catching Saddam," the military declared.

The captured bodyguard, frequently seen with Saddam in publicized photos, was considered one of those who seldom left thetoppled Iraqi leader.

For days, the US troops, including the secretive Task Force 20,have been stepping up the hunt for Saddam in his hometown, where acache of anti-tank mines and gunpowder was uncovered hours before the capture of the bodyguard.

The US forces are zeroing in on Saddam with a reward of 25 million US dollars on his head, or for information leading to his arrest.

"A lot of people are stepping forward with information. He's running out of places to hide," the US military said on Monday.

Washington plans to pay out 30 million dollars to an Iraqi informant after the US forces killed Saddam's sons, Uday and Qusay,in a raid on July 22 in the northern city of Mosul.

On the US side, the number of deaths is arising almost everyday.As of Tuesday, 246 US soldiers have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq and at least 50 of them were killed after US President George W. Bush declared the end of major combatin Iraq on May 1.

About three months after the former Iraqi president was ousted,Iraqis have not found a new leader. On Tuesday, Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council decided to elect a nine-member rotating presidential council instead of one president.

Jalal Talbani, secretary general of the National Kurdish Union told Xinhua that the nine members of the rotating presidency will represent the 25-member governing council that was chosen from thespectrum of the Iraqi society.

The nine members are Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, Ahmed Chalabi, Iyad Alawi, Jalal Talbani, Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim, Adnan Al-Bachachi, Mohsin Abdul-Aziz, Mohammed Bahr al-Ulom and Masoud Barzani. They include five Muslim Shiites, two Sunnis and two Kurds.

The Iraqi Governing Council, which was formed by the US civil administration in Iraq on July 13, is scheduled to nominate cabinet ministers among the technocrats in the coming session to run different Iraqi ministries.

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