"Hit them with the power of faith wherever they come near you, and resist, oh brave inhabitants of Baghdad," the Iraqi leader said, reading out his message in a solemn tone.

"God willing, you will be victorious and they will be defeated," said Saddam, who had last made a televised address to the nation, rather than have messages read on his behalf, on March 24.

Wearing military uniform and donning a black beret, Saddam called for jihad, or holy war, against US and British forces which launched an onslaught on Iraq aimed at toppling him on March 20.

"Our martyrs will go to heaven and their dead will go to hell," he said.

Saddam did not mention the battle underway since Thursday at Baghdad's international airport, which US forces say they captured, but said the "enemy" was "bypassing our armed forces defenses around Baghad and other cities and, as we anticipated, making landings here and there."

In most cases, "landings are taking place on roads and involve a small number of troops whom you can confront and destroy with the weapons you hold," he said.

Saddam also urged Iraqis to emulate a farmer who according to Baghdad downed a US Apache helicopter with an old rifle over Karbala, south of Baghdad, on March 24.

An official in Washington said US intelligence believes that Saddam's speech, while not conclusive, indicates that he survived an air strike on the first day of the war.

The official pointed to the Apache helicopter downing.

Iraqi television later showed Saddam being cheered on a street, in the first footage of the Iraqi leader in public aired since the start of the war.

Saddam appeared in olive green military garb on the main square of the Al-Mansour residential neighborhood of Baghdad, flanked by just a few bodyguards but packing a firearm in a holster.

The footage, which showed around 10 minutes of Saddam at two different street scenes in a daylight tour, was broadcast at about 9:20 pm (1730 GMT).

The White House, meanwhile, said that victory in Iraq does not hinge on finding Saddam and rejected the possibility that US forces may not locate the banned weapons of mass destruction central to the US case for war.

Asked whether the US-led campaign had to find Saddam to be considered a success, spokesman Ari Fleischer said that would be "helpful" but that the "definition of victory" was disarming Iraq and ending his regime.

"Whether he is or is not alive or dead, the mission is moving forward, and the regime's days are numbered," he said.

SPACE.WIRE