Saddam 'in hospital after stroke'

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0101/02/pageone/pageone10.html

Damascus: An Iraqi opposition group claimed yesterday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was rushed to a Baghdad hospital late on Sunday suffering from an apparent stroke after having officiated earlier at the country's biggest New Year's Day parade in 10 years.

The Iraqi leader was being treated for "a severe stroke" at Iben Sinna Hospital, said a statement issued by dissident leader Bayan Jaber, of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

The statement said the 63-year-old president's condition was unknown but that he was still in the hospital.

There was no mention of Saddam's medical condition or whereabouts by the official Iraqi news media yesterday.

The official media generally refrain from carrying news about his health or that of his family members.

President Hussein officiated on Sunday at the biggest military parade in Baghdad since the 1991 Gulf War.

Flanked by top aides, he wore a business suit and hat as he stood on a reviewing stand.

He greeted army units with shots from a rifle he held in one hand as tanks rumbled past and fighter jets and helicopter gunships flew overhead.

Saddam, a peasant boy, clawed and killed his way from poverty to power and became effective ruler in 1968, when the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party took over in a coup he helped organise.

Deutsche Press Agenture