'Zsa Zsa Saddam' may taunt Iraqi loyalists

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s926284.htm

The US army is hoping to stick up posters of Saddam Hussein's face superimposed on Hollywood heroines and other stars in an attempt to enrage his followers and draw them out.

In one called 'Zsa Zsa Saddam', he has his head tossed back, his blonde locks flowing and a filter-tipped cigarette dangling coquettishly between his delicate fingers.

'Zsa Zsa Saddam' is the US army's latest ploy in the four-month hunt for the fugitive dictator.

In a campaign starting this week, US forces plan to put up the posters around Saddam's home town of Tikrit.

As well as Saddam dolled up as a slinky Zsa Zsa Gabor, there is a busty Rita Hayworth Saddam, a grooving Elvis Saddam and even Saddam in the guise of British-born rocker Billy Idol.

"We're going to do something devious with these," said a chuckling Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Russell last week, as he checked out a range of spoof Saddam pictures taken from the Internet (www.worth1000.com).

"Most of the locals will love 'em and they'll be laughing. But the bad guys are going to be upset, which will just make it easier for us to know who they are."

Lieutenant-Colonel Russell, whose 1st Battalion, 22nd Regiment is spearheading the 4th Infantry Division's search for the deposed leader, hopes to have the posters slapped up on walls around Tikrit from Monday.

No official decision has yet been taken.

The gambit is part of a game of cat-and-mouse Lieutenant-Colonel Russell and his unit are playing with Saddam loyalists in the Tikrit area.

Apparently intimidated by the US Army's heavy presence around town, more and more guerrillas are stashing their weapons and keeping a low profile, US commanders say.

US forces are trying to flush them out and hunt them while they can.

RPG alley

One tactic Lieutenant-Colonel Russell and his team uses is to make themselves the bait.

On most nights, Humvees packed with soldiers will drive up and down what has been dubbed "RPG Alley" to try to attract fire from locals armed with rocket-propelled grenades.

While that has had some success in recent weeks, now Lieutenant-Colonel Russell is turning to the poster campaign to see if he can taunt Saddam loyalists into showing their faces.

Officers from the 4th Infantry's psychological operations unit say it is not necessarily a bad idea, although they tend to favour more subtle leaflet drops.

"It's mostly good for troop morale but if we can put these posters up in Tikrit and the enemy can't take them down, then at least it shows who owns the streets," said Sergeant David Cade, a psychological operations specialist.

Yet while the posters may help divide locals into the amused and the infuriated, they also run a serious risk of stoking fury among ordinary Iraqis who may not be pro-Saddam but still will not accept the idea of the Americans poking fun.

One of the posters shows Saddam's head on Elvis's dancing body, a gold crucifix hanging around his hairy chest.

Given fears in the Arab world that the invasion of Iraq was akin to a Christian crusade, some Iraqis say US forces would do well to think twice about leaving the cross hanging around Saddam Elvis's neck.

"Maybe it is funny for the soldiers but I think most locals will find it very insulting," said Uday, a 22-year-old working as a translator at the US army base in Tikrit.