Bush calls ‘Saddam’ tape propaganda
US President George Bush has dismissed as propaganda the latest audiotape reputed to be from toppled Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein. The tape was broadcast on a Gulf television station on Sunday.
The US leader has vowed the United States will stay in Iraq until the country is stabilised.
“It’s propaganda. We’re not leaving until the job is done, pure and simple,” Bush said. “A free and peaceful Iraq will be a historic event. And I’m sure he would like to see us leave.”
The tape attributed to Saddam Hussein said US-led occupation forces in Iraq had reached “a dead end” and urged the resistance to fight the US-installed authorities.
“The evil ones are at a dead end in Iraq,” the voice said, adding that the US-led coalition “imagined it would be a picnic” when they launched the invasion on 20 March that led to Saddam’s fall.