Iraq tonight dismissed reports that President Saddam Hussein had suffered a stroke over the weekend.
Some media outlets in England and Germany have run reports based on claims from the exiled Iraqi opposition that Saddam is in intensive care after the stroke.
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Iraqi President Saddam Hussein |
"These reports are so silly that they do not even deserve a reply," said Salam Khatab al-Nassiri, director-general of the Information Department at the Ministry of Culture and Information.
The official Iraqi News Agency (INA) said Saddam chaired a cabinet meeting today, the first in 2001. The cabinet hailed the Palestinian people's courage in their uprising against Israeli occupation, INA said.
The INA also released a photograph to Reuters, which it said depicted the Iraqi leader at today's cabinet meeting.
"All of the world has seen how President Saddam Hussein had stood for more than five hours greeting units of our brave army at the Al-Aqsa Call Parade," Nassiri said.
"He also fired more than 140 shots one-handed, something most young people are unable to do - this alone is enough as a reply to this absurd news," he added.
Saddam presided on Sunday over what appeared to be the biggest military parade in Baghdad since the 1991 Gulf War, greeting army units with shots from a rifle he held in one hand.
The four-hour parade displayed sophisticated surface-to-surface and anti-aircraft missiles, artillery and over 1,000 modern, Russian-made tanks as well as infantry units.
No figures were given for the number of troops or components of hardware taking part in the so-called Al-Aqsa Call Parade, intended as a show of support for the Palestinians.
Saddam has survived a decade of UN sanctions imposed for his invasion of Kuwait, but the embargo has ruined Iraq's infrastructure and caused a plunge in living standards.
Reuters