An audio tape purporting to be from Saddam Hussein and aired by Arabic TV channel Al Jazeera today said he was alive and living in Iraq, and urged Iraqis to support resistance to US forces. No confirmation was immediately available that the voice on the tape was indeed that of the former Iraqi President, who has not been seen in public since American forces ousted him and his government in early April. ‘‘I am in Iraq and with a comrade,’’ said the voice on the tape, which sounded like Saddam. ‘‘I tell you that I miss you, miss you, oh beloved people, even though I am among you and in your ranks,’’ said the voice, adding that the recording had been made on June 14. The United States, backed by Britain, invaded Iraq to rid it of alleged weapons of mass destruction, and had hoped to be welcomed as a liberator by the Iraqis. But in recent weeks dozens of its soldiers have been killed in an increasingly concerted campaign of armed resistance, while it has failed to find either Saddam or any proof of the weapons. In the latest clash on Friday, US forces killed 11 gunmen who tried to ambush a military patrol near a town northwest of Baghdad, a day after a mortar attack in the area left 16 American soldiers wounded, the US military said. In the tape, the voice asked Iraqis to help to protect the fighters resisting the American forces, and not to help the ‘‘infidel occupiers’’. Asked about the tape, a British Ministry of Defence official in London told Reuters: ‘‘As far as I am aware, we cannot vouch for its authenticity.’’ n Washington, the White House and Pentagon had no immediate comment. The tape, which could be heard by Iraqis with satellite dishes, was broadcast on US Independence Day. It came one day after the United States offered a $25 million bounty for information leading to Saddam’s capture or providing evidence of his death. Rewards of $15 million were offered for his two sons and lieutenants, Uday and Qusay. (Reuters)
