DUBAI, 9 April 2003 — Three major Arab television networks rejected yesterday suggestions that they were reporting that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had been killed in US airstrikes on the capital Baghdad. Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, Dubai-based Al-Arabiya and Abu Dhabi Television all denied a rumor cited by traders as moving Western financial markets that alleged Jazeera or another Arab television network had reported Saddam’s death.
Euro zone government bond futures slid as dealers said a television report had said Saddam had been killed. US aircraft dropped four 900 kg bombs on a building in a residential area of Baghdad on Monday after US intelligence reports indicated that Saddam and his two sons might have been inside with other Iraqi leaders.
The US military said yesterday that it destroyed a building where Saddam might have been meeting in Baghdad but that it could be impossible to find out who had been inside.
The three Arabic networks, monitored by Reuters in Dubai, did not report any new word on Saddam’s fate during their early evening bulletins. All the channels have large teams reporting on the US-led war on Iraq. Jihad Ballout, Jazeera’s spokesman, dismissed the rumor.
“We do not have any such reports and we do not deal in rumors or innuendo. We only air authenticated news, and we do that right away,” he told Reuters.
Abu Dhabi TV News Director Nart Bouran also rejected the rumor, adding: “We reported something this morning that US networks were saying they believed Saddam’s bunker was hit.”
Arabiya’s News Editor Salah Nejm said: “Until 7.30 p.m. Dubai time (1530 GMT) we did not have any story like this. We don’t have the means to confirm whether he is alive or dead.”
There has been much speculation about Saddam’s fate since the United States and Britain invaded Iraq 20 days ago to topple the Iraqi leader with a strike on another building in Baghdad where they suspected the Iraqi president was holed up. On Monday, Iraqi television showed Saddam meeting top aides but it was not clear when the meeting took place.
Taped appearances by Saddam, who hardly ever appears live on television and has not been seen in public for a couple of years, have become more frequent in recent days as US forces focus their military campaign on Baghdad. The Iraqi authorities have been at pains to insist that Saddam is still in charge and controlling his forces.
Saddam Hussein is, however, leading his would-be killers a macabre dance as another US bid to “decapitate” him leaves the United States groping in the dark as to his whereabouts. They may have trashed his finest palaces, scattered the much-vaunted Republican Guard and blasted their way right through his airport and capital, but Saddam Hussein is still a moving target, at least for now.
With tanks rampaging around Baghdad, US warplanes dropped four satellite-guided bombs with Saddam’s name on them onto a building in central Baghdad on Monday, reportedly leaving a pile of bodies under the rubble.
An intelligence tip suggested that Iraqi leaders including the “great leader” and his sons Qussay and Uday were inside. But once again President George Bush had to admit he knew not if his Iraqi opposite number was dead or alive. “I don’t know whether he survived.” Bush said in Belfast. “The only thing I know is that he is losing power.”
US officials stuck to that line yesterday, ensuring plenty of press speculation. “We confirm that a target of the (Iraqi) regime was hit very hard,” a US Central Command spokesman said in Qatar, leaving an anonymous official in Washington to push out the detail.
“Obviously we hope that some part of the leadership was taken out of action, but we don’t know at this point who might have been there at the time the ordnance arrived,” the official said.
