In the security-paranoid world of the Baghdad regime, it is not at all unusual for statements to be read on television for the elusive 65-year-old, who might reasonably be expected to be down the bottom of his deepest, best protected bunker.

Saddam has not been seen in public since January 2001 and that quickly ignited rumours he had suffered a stroke, if not died, from exerting himself repeatedly firing a shotgun one-handed.

Tuesday night's no-show was enough to push up the ailing stock market in New York, and European bourses took a cue from that on Wednesday with rises across the board.

Iraqi state-run television had provided a big buildup to the address on Tuesday, only for Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf to pop and do the honours, as he has done on previous occasions, delivering a blistering message.

The vivid words of the call to arms and assurances of victory did not disappoint however.

The US-launched war "is an aggression against religion, property, people and honor," the speech said. "This is why jihad is a duty.

"Hit them, fight them! They are evil aggressors. You will be victorious and they will be defeated.

"Fight them like brethren and sons of yours have done in Umm Qasr, Basra, Nineveh, Nasiriyah and Al-Anbar.

"Fight them in every location as you are doing today, and don't give them a chance to catch their breath until they pull out of Muslim land."

US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld noted it was "interesting" that Saddam had not appeared.

But he admitted: "Nobody knows where Saddam Hussein is, whether he's alive or dead."

In London, a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said the no-show raised questions about the genuineness of his multiple television appearances since war broke out on March 20.

"We can't reach any definitive conclusions, but Saddam's non-appearance does raise questions about the legitimacy of his other broadcasts.

"It is well known that his messages on television are one of the ways he maintains his grip on power. It does seem very strange that he hasn't appeared at this time," the spokesman said.

At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer acknowledged that nearly two weeks after the beginning of the war, the mystery remained total.

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

"It does raise interesting questions," Fleischer added.

It was far from the optimistic words of the first day of the war when US and British officials thought they had "decapitated" or at least winged the secretive strongman.

"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," Fleischer went on. "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."

Saddam did refer in the early days of the war to the strong resistance put up in the border town of Umm Qasr, which stunned US and British invaders.

However he does not need to prove anything as long as the fight goes on, and a real public appearance would expose him to the big guns of the US army and air force.

The regime has so far cleverly stage-managed Saddam's appearances on state television, whether to read two speeches or to be seen consulting aides, maintaining at least the semblance that he is very much alive and in control of events.

Very, very few people, even in the inside circle in Iraq, have ever known where Saddam is, let alone in time of war when cruise missiles are raining down on the fortress capital.

Karl Bernd Esser, a German architect who says he designed a multi-million-dollar bunker buried deep underneath Baghdad, points out on his website that the facility includes a command centre, a presidential bedroom and a hideaway among 1,800 square metres (19,370 square feet).

The walls are reportedly three metres thick and able to resist temperatures up to 300 degrees Celsius, surviving anything short of a direct hit from a nuclear weapon the size of that which destroyed Hiroshima.

And that is just one of many such facilities reported to have been built over the years for Saddam.

Bombs continued to fall on the main presidential palace compound in the centre of Baghdad on Wednesday.

SPACE.WIRE