Saddam: Dead or Alive?

April 4, 2003 — -- American officials continue to insist that Saddam Hussein's Baghdad nights of Frank Sinatra and Johnny Walker will soon be over.

Pres. George W. Bush: We will accept nothing less than complete and final victory.

But he has not surrendered yet.

The man who loved to sip Johnny Walker black whiskey and listen with his mistress to Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" continued today to show his resilience.

This time, a purported Saddam speech on Iraqi television. And then an extraordinary scene walking through cheering crowds on the streets of Baghdad.

Richard Clarke (Former Counterterrorism Official): Two questions. Is it him? Apparently it is. And was it recently done? Apparently it was.

Until earlier this year, the man at the White House advising the President on security and counterterrorism was Richard Clark, now an ABC News consultant.

Richard Clarke: He didn't quite hold up today's newspaper with the date on it, but enough that people will now believe that he's alive and up walking around, giving orders.

Within moments of its broadcast, this latest Saddam tape was being pored over, back and forth, back and forth.

Judith Jaffe (Former CIA Agent): Doctors looking at it look for signs of his medical conditions. Is he alert? Is he well, whatever? Other people will look for different things. What he's saying, his mannerisms? Is there anything we can determine to prove it is he or where he is? Any signs, any indicators?

Judith Jaffe was the CIA's unlikely secret weapon in trying to figure out what Saddam was up to.

Judith Jaffe: He's vain. He wouldn't want to appear on camera in his glasses normally. This is one who dyes his air.

Now retired, she was the senior political analyst for the Iraqi desk and part of the CIA team that analyzed every aspect of Saddam. His speeches, his family, his appearance. Right down to the two moles on the left side of his face and the shape of his chin.

Judith Jaffe: Everything is important. Every single thing.