Iraqi television yesterday broadcast pictures of President Saddam Hussein chairing three meetings with top advisors on the war with the United States.
It showed Saddam in military uniform and said his aides "voiced satisfaction at the resistance and heroism displayed by the armed forces, fighters of the Baath Party and tribesmen."
It did not say where or when the meetings were held.
Iraqi Defence Minister Sultan Hashem Ahmed gave Saddam a report "on the situation at the battle fronts of Umm al-Qasr, the Fao peninsula and at Rumeila," the report said.
The pictures showed Saddam with his son Qussay, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Aziz and Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf.
It said Qussay, who is in charge of defending Baghdad and also directs the elite and staunchly loyal Republican Guard, attended two of the meetings, and that Salah Abboud, commander of Iraqi border forces, was at the third.
AFP