Analysis of Audio Tape Received by Australian Newspaper Reporter - 2003-05-07

An Australian newspaper reports that it has received an audio tape allegedly recorded by Saddam Hussein, the ousted leader of Iraq, in which he calls on the Iraqi people to initiate a covert and secret war against U.S. and coalition forces. The Sydney Morning Herald states that this fifteen-minute tape was handed to its reporter in Baghdad on Monday by two men who originally intended to deliver it to Al Jazeera journalists. The two men claimed they were unable to contact the Al Jazeera reporter. The Sydney Morning Herald has published a translation of the recorded speech and stated that it will provide the tape for analysis to U.S. officials. Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said today that the tape will be reviewed and analyzed, but no conclusions can be drawn at this time. According to the Australian newspaper, the two men who carried the tape claimed that Saddam Hussein's words were recorded two days prior. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the tape was played for linguists and over a dozen Iraqis, all of whom agreed that the voice and rhetoric heard on the tape closely resemble Saddam Hussein's speaking style. Based on the translation published in the Australian newspaper, the voice on the tape refers multiple times to the occupation of Iraq by foreign forces and urges Iraqis to reject any new leader who collaborates with foreigners. The tape also calls on Iraqis to begin a struggle in what has been termed the covert and secret style of Iraq.