Izzy speaks...
A message purported to be from the fugitive deputy of executed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has called on insurgents to make a final push against US forces. The message attributed to Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri urged Iraqi fighters to "make this year... decisive for victory".
I, of course, will stay here in my secret lair counting Sammy's money.
The message also called on US President George W Bush to "come clean about the scale of US losses".
Which he reads about in Jihad Unspun...
The message, aired by Dubai-based satellite broadcaster Al-Arabiya and reported by the AFP news agency, urged Iraqi insurgents to "strike the enemy everywhere". It also called on President Bush to "end an experiment that has now lasted more than five years".
Please stop killing us.
Ibrahim is the most senior member of Saddam Hussein's regime still at large. Al-Duri was Saddam Hussein's number two in Iraq's decision-making Revolutionary Command Council, and has had a $10m price on his head since November 2003. US military chiefs have accused him of being the paymaster of many attacks on their troops. They say he has access to Saddam's hidden stashes of cash with which he pays jobless Iraqis to fight in the insurgency. Thousands of US troops have taken part in the search for him.