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Al-Sahaf dead???? NOOO!!!!!
I'm gonna be pissed off if my new hero is dead!!! I was so looking forward to future episodes of the al-sahaf show 
If he is confirmed dead, we'll have to set up a memorial post in remembrance of his greatness
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Comical Ali may be dead
April 18 2003
Baghdad is rife with speculation that the Iraqi Information Minister - nicknamed "Comical Ali" for his ludicrous efforts to deny US military advances during the war - has committed suicide.
Newspaper reports in Iran said Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who mysteriously disappeared when US forces closed in on Baghdad, had hanged himself.
Military sources treated the reports with caution, suggesting they could have been spread by the fleeing Iraqi propagandist to throw special forces squads off his tail.
Al-Sahaf is not on the US list of Saddam Hussein's 55 most-wanted henchmen but he is still being sought for his highly visible role as the mouthpiece for the Iraqi regime during the war.
Two Iranian newspapers said he killed himself in the hours before the capital was taken by US forces, and refugees crossing the Iranian border said he had committed suicide.
A military source said: "We can't verify this, but we are still looking for him and other members of the regime.
"If he's dead, that's it, but if he's alive, we'll be very interested to talk to him.
Al-Sahaf acted as a one-man propaganda machine during the war, launching increasingly ludicrous tirades on worldwide television.
His impromptu rants, filled with hyperbole and invective, were compulsive viewing and made him a cult figure.
A joke website set up in his name crashed when millions around the globe tried to log on.
His most famous outburst came when, despite the fact that bursts of gunfire could be heard nearby, he stood on a Baghdad hotel roof and told the world with a straight face that the Americans were being defeated.
"We slaughtered them and we will continue to slaughter them. God is grilling their stomachs in hell," he said. As he spoke, US tanks were destroying his own office and what remained of Saddam's regime.
His daily broadcasts from Baghdad, dubbed "The al-Sahaf Show", often ridiculed US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was another target, derided as "the most despicable creature".
Al-Sahaf also introduced insults virtually unknown to the Arab public.
His use of "uluj", an obscure and particularly insulting term for "infidel", sent viewers calling TV stations for a definition.
Al-Sahaf served as Iraq's ambassador to India, Italy and the United Nations.
He was foreign minister from 1993 to 2001, before becoming Information Minister.
Press Association
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