Iraq TV shows Saddam touring Baghdad

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">WASHINGTON: Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein stunned the United States and much of the world by surfacing on the streets of Baghdad surrounded by a boisterous mob that raised slogans in his favour and touched and kissed him.<br /><br />Television images of the appearance was broadcast on most Arab TV stations, which said they were shot on Friday.They were picked up by western networks. They appeared to prove the Iraqi leader was still alive despite the US efforts to cast doubts on this score. <br /><br />American television commentators and analysts led the administration in casting doubts about whether it was the real Saddam or a body double, and when the video was shot and by whom. <br /><br />But the weather over Baghdad, and the fact that Saddam Hussein was accompanied by his long time aide and bodyguard Abid Hassan, seemed to confirm the fact that it was indeed Saddam. Some western analysts also agreed that it was almost certainly Saddam Hussein himself.<br /><br />Earlier, in one of his routine taped television appearances on state-run Iraqi TV, Saddam Hussein referred to the downing of an Apache helicopter by an Iraqi farmer. That effectively answered US claim that the Iraqi leader''s previous appearances were recorded tapes pre-dating the war because he had not made any references to contemporary post-war events. <br /><br />The television images aired by Arab networks showed a beaming Saddam surrounded by small but jostling crowds numbering only in the hundreds, many of them wielding guns. Saddam was surrounded only by four or five uniformed bodyguards, and although they appeared to have trouble clearing a way for him through the mob, he himself smilingly shook hand with the people in the mob. <br /><br />At one point, he picked up a small child brought to him by a hijab-clad woman and held him aloft. <br /><br />US analysts say in the past, Saddam has been leery of physical contact with people, fearing assassination and death through germ contact. But this time he even allowed people to kiss him on his cheek, instead of sticking to his normal routine of allowing them to kiss him on his shoulder.<br /><br />In his television appearance Saddam urged his people to hit the coalition hard and hit them "with what you have." Saddam''s Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said the US forces will face "something that is not conventional" on Friday night, but pledged Iraq would not use weapons of mass destruction against advancing coalition troops.<br /><br />Judging by the initial reactions, Saddam''s appearance electrified the Arab world and even as it dismayed Washington. <br /><br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">CNN</span> and the other US media continued to report that a man who "appears to be" and "purporting" to be Saddam Hussein was seen on television.<br /></div> </div>