Iraqi state-run television had trumpeted Saddam's pending address, only to broadcast Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf reading a fiercely worded call to arms that he attributed to Saddam.

"It does raise interesting questions," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, who acknowledged that nearly two weeks after the beginning of the war, the mystery over Saddam's fate remains intact.

"There is still nothing hard or concrete to report," he told reporters. "we don't know. He could show up, but he hasn't yet."

In Britain, a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair echoed those remarks, saying: "We can't reach any definitive conclusions, but Saddam's non-appearance does raise questions about the legitimacy of his other broadcasts."

US media have suggested that Saddam may have been killed or wounded in the "decapitating" strikes on a suspected leadership bunker in Baghdad that targeted the elusive Iraqi chief and his two sons, Uday and Qusay.

Since then, Saddam has been shown several times on state television, but it is not known whether the footage was recorded before US-led forces launched their attack, and the United States has said it has no proof that he is dead.

But officials here have worked to turn the lack of conclusive evidence to their advantage in the propaganda war, essentially daring the Iraqi leader to appear in public -- which would make him an excellent target.

"Those who have made their living at Saddam's side don't want information about his health to be revealed. They have a stake in keeping him as alive as can be," said Fleischer. "The question is why aren't they showing it?"

To prove he is alive, Saddam would have to give a live broadcast, or speak out on an event from the same day as the broadcast, said Fleischer, who added: "Proof that he would be dead would be if you saw a body."

Just hours after the war began with a March 20 strike on Baghdad, the president was seen on state television calling on his people and other Arabs to resist the attack.

He gave another address on March 24 in which he pledged that "victory is near" and warned of "heavy consequences" for the coalition forces.

In the speech read by Sahhaf on Tuesday, Saddam again pledged that Iraq would prevail over the US and British forces.

"Hit them, fight them! They are evil aggressors," said Saddam, in an address for both his people and "the sons of our glorious (Arab) nation."

"It's time to be patient and let things play out ... we'll know in good time whether Saddam Hussein is alive or dead," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Bush ordered the war's first strikes after two Iraqi officials close to Saddam told the CIA that the Iraqi leader would be at the targeted bunker.

After two F-117 "stealth" bombers dropped 2,000-pound precision-guided bombs on the underground facility and cruise missiles rained down on its external structures, Saddam was carried off in a stretcher, blue in the face and taking oxygen, according the CIA's Iraqi sources, the Post said.

The two Iraqi officers have since safely fled Iraq, according to the daily.

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