"There's a new audiotape out that's supposedly from Saddam Hussein,"
says the Associated Press this morning.

"The Arab satellite network Al-Arabiya aired the tape, on which
a speaker denounces Iraq's newly formed governing council. The
speaker is purported to be the former Iraqi leader."

AP went on to say that the reference to the council indicates
the message could be fairly new. The voice calls for a holy
war against the American-led administration, and accuses Bush
and Blair of tricking their own people to justify the war on
Iraq.

The tape asks, "What will they say to their people and to mankind?
What will the chorus of lies say to those that backed them?" It
also denounces the newly formed Iraqi governing council as a
tool of coalition forces. Reporters familiar with Saddam's
voice say the tape sounds authentic, but that hasn't been
independently confirmed. The tape calls members of the
new Iraqi council "employees named by the foreign occupiers."
It said they can offer nothing to the Iraqi people other than
"the will of the occupier."