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CAMP SAYLIYAH, QATAR
Information minister finds a rare status
By Anne Barnard, Globe Staff, 4/11/2003
"They are committing suicide on the gates of Baghdad," he told reporters clustered outside the Palestine Hotel. "I would encourage them to commit more suicide."
As Saddam Hussein was falling from his rule over Baghdad Wednesday, it was surprising not to see Sahaf show up to deny it. His jaunty beret, his air of enthusiasm, and especially his intricate verbal riffs promising to "grill their stomachs in hell" had won him rock-star status among some Arabs.
Fans have even created a website: www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com. On Wednesday, the site listed as its quote of the day Sahaf's call for US soldiers to "surrender or be burned in their tanks."Sahaf, 63, was demoted to his current (former?) job from the position of foreign minister. But as the chief PR man for Saddam Hussein, the English literature major seemed to have found his calling.US Marine Captain Stewart Upton, whose phone at US Central Command here lit up every day around 7 p.m. with reporters asking him about Sahaf's claim that Iraq had shot down 196 US missiles or five Apache helicopters, didn't miss him yesterday. But others are rooting for him to resurface. Said one US cameraman, "He should be a publicist for a pharmaceutical company."
This story ran on page A39 of the Boston Globe on 4/11/2003.
e called US invaders "louts," "hooligans," "dogs," "mercenaries," and "infidels." "They are the superpower of villains," he said. "They are the superpower of Al Capone." Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, Iraqi's information minister, was unperturbed Sunday as smoke from US tank fire rose over the Iraqi capital and US soldiers tried out Saddam Hussein's palace armchairs.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
