MIDDLE EAST Saddam reportedly urges Iraqis to fight

A U.S. lawmaker wants full disclosure of a company's role in Iraq.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In a new audiotape -- the first reportedly made by Saddam Hussein since U.S.-led forces ousted his regime -- the deposed Iraqi leader urges his countrymen to fight foreign occupation.
The Sydney Morning Herald said it received the 14-minute tape from two men in Baghdad on Monday who said they were trying to get it to Al-Jazeera or Al-Arabiya, two Arab satellite television channels.
There was no way to confirm if the tired-sounding voice on the tape was that of Saddam, although the accent and phrasing were akin to that of the ousted leader.
"Through this secret means I am talking to you from inside great Iraq, and I say to you, the main task for you, Arab and Kurd, Shiite and Sunni, Muslim and Christian and the whole Iraqi people of all religions, your main task is to kick the enemy out from our country," the speaker said.
By way of establishing that the recording was made recently, the voice on the tape noted some Iraqis had celebrated Saddam's 66th birthday on April 28 even though he was not in power. The speaker referred to Saddam in the third person, a practice common in Arabic.
"It was an Iraqi decision [to celebrate], because they consider Saddam Hussein as a brother or as a father to them. And this is just to express of their free will that nobody forced them to do it or to live in any way against their will. It is their true attitude toward Saddam Hussein," the speaker said.
The speech is interrupted once by coughing and twice by what sounds like water being drunk, the newspaper reported.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said today the tape was being reviewed to determine whether it is authentic.
Disclosure sought
Meanwhile, Halliburton Co.'s emergency, no-bid contract to work on Iraq's oil wells must be fully disclosed, a Democratic lawmaker says, pointing to the Army's admission that the company has a far more lucrative role than originally believed.
Prior descriptions said Vice President Dick Cheney's former company would fight oil fires. The contract also lets the company operate the oil fields for a time and distribute the petroleum, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said Tuesday. Waxman cited information he received from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which awarded the contract.
Cheney's office has said repeatedly that the vice president has no role in Halliburton's operations or its government contracts.
A spokeswoman for Halliburton said the company's initial announcement of the contract March 24 disclosed the larger role for its KBR subsidiary.
The Corps wrote Waxman last Friday that the contract included not only extinguishing fires but "operation of facilities and distribution of products."
"I do not mean to suggest that the Corps has intentionally misled anyone about the contract," Waxman wrote Tuesday to Corps commander Lt. Gen. Robert Flowers. "I am, however, concerned that the administration's reluctance to provide complete information about this and other Iraqi contracts has denied Congress important information."
The lawmaker also said the Corps' proposal to replace the Halliburton contract with another long-term deal was at odds with administration statements that Iraq's oil belongs to the Iraqi people.
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