Tehran newspaper: Saddam has blood cancer Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is gravely ill with blood cancer and the battle to succeed him in Baghdad is out in the open

January 27, 2001, 03:36 PM TEHRAN (AFP English) - Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is gravely ill with blood cancer and the battle to succeed him in Baghdad is now out in the open, an opposition leader alleged in a Tehran newspaper said.

Ayatollah Mohammad-Baqer Hakim, head of the opposition Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), told the Jomhuri-Eslami paper Saddam collapsed during a recent military parade in Baghdad.

"He collapsed in front of about 70 politicians who were present and was urgently transferred to hospital," Hakim said, adding that the "war of succession is open" between his two sons Uday and Qussay.

"All the reports that we have confirm Saddam has blood cancer and is currently under the care of French doctors," he told the conservative daily in an exclusive interview.

Saddam attended a huge military parade on December 31 where he was seen by journalists, repeatedly firing a rifle held in one hand.

"Saddam appeared strong and in good health," a diplomat present also said. "He was smoking big cigars as usual."

But SCIRI said he had suffered a stroke after the event and the London-based Iraqi National Congress said it had many second-hand sources saying the Iraqi strongman had collapsed afterwards.

Iraqi dissidents have suggested that subsequent footage of Saddam on Baghdad state television could have been doctored or pre-recorded.

The 63-year-old Saddam has held power in Baghdad for 30 years.

In September, Iraqi officials denied a detailed Arab newspaper story that he was to undergo chemotherapy for lymph cancer.

Saddam Hussein is gravely ill with blood cancer

Gee...I wonder if this comes from "playing" with his new toys?

New toys? -> Saddam Hussein has two fully operational nuclear bombs and is working to construct others

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), January 30, 2001

Answers

Doesn't he believe thst rsdiation can give you blood cancer? Lukemia

-- Cherri (jessam5@home.com), January 30, 2001.

He does now! ;-)

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), January 30, 2001.

Let’s see what we have here. If this report has any validity (oh please make it so) there is a dying desert dictator, armed with two nukes and a big hard-on for the United States. Can you spell preemptive action?

-- Barry (bchbear863@cs.com), January 30, 2001.

Saddam's opponents have been announcing that his death is either a fact, or imminent, for 3 decades. Saddam has always denied these reports, and so far the denials have been more credible. But maybe this time...

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), January 30, 2001.

We'll know when Saddam is dead just as quickly as we learned that Breshnev, Chernenko and Andropov were dead.

-- Little Nipper (canis@minor.net), January 30, 2001.