Editing Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf (section)

===Announcements===
His pronouncements included claims that American soldiers were committing suicide "by the hundreds" outside the city, and denial that there were any American tanks in Baghdad, when in fact they were only several hundred meters away from the press conference where he was speaking and the combat sounds of nearing American troops could already be heard in the background.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/jan/13/broadcasting.Iraqandthemedia |title=Comical Ali gets job as TV pundit |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |first=Claire |last=Cozens |date=13 January 2004 |access-date=25 April 2020}}</ref> On another occasion, he spoke of the disastrous outcomes of previous foreign attempts to invade Iraq, citing an unspecified Western history book and inviting the journalists present to come to his home to read it. His last public appearance as Information Minister was on 8 April 2003, when he said that the Americans "are going to surrender or be burned in their tanks. They will surrender; it is they who will surrender".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Howard |title=Crucible of Power: A History of American Foreign Relations from 1897 |date=2008 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |isbn=978-0-7425-5825-0 |page=591 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2A28fa-Bz9sC&pg=PA591 |language=en}}</ref> When asked where he had gotten his information, he replied, "authentic sources—many authentic sources".<ref name="Comical-resurf">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3024046.stm |title='Comical Ali' resurfaces |publisher=BBC News |date=26 June 2003 |access-date=15 August 2009}}</ref> He pointed out that he "was a professional, doing his job".<ref name="Comical-resurf" />

He frequently used the word ''‘ulūj'' ({{Lang|ar|علوج}}), an obscure and particularly insulting term for [[infidel]]s, to describe the American forces in Iraq. This caused some debate in the [[Arabic]]-language media about the exact meaning of the word, with most concluding it meant "bloodsucking insect". In an August 2003 interview on [[Abu Dhabi TV]], al-Sahhaf said it was an archaic term attributed to [[Umar|Umar ibn Al-Khattāb]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Popular Culture in the Arab World: Arts, Politics, and the Media |page=60 |first=Andrew |last=Hammond |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O06bOHRW7s8C&pg=PA60 |year=2007 |publisher=American University in Cairo Press|isbn=978-977-416-054-7}}</ref>

US intelligence analysts later concluded that Al-Sahhaf confidently made false statements because he genuinely believed in what he was saying. As the American forces approached Baghdad, the Iraqi army falsely reported that they had successfully counterattacked US forces, destroying numerous tanks and killing hundreds of American troops. Army Col. Steve Boltz, the deputy chief of intelligence for V Corps, expressed that they held the belief that Al-Sahhaf sincerely held the information he reported to be true. Boltz theorized that because Saddam's regime was known for frequently punishing those who delivered bad news, military officers would fabricate reports about the battlefield situation. This systemic self-deception within the Iraqi hierarchy led to a surprising lack of awareness when the Americans entered the capital, with some captured Iraqi officers later bewilderingly admitting that they had no idea that the US forces had been so close.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ricks |first1=Thomas E. |title=Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq |date=3 May 2007 |publisher=Penguin Books Limited |isbn=978-0-14-190230-2 |page=134 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bLWJWJ0qXEAC&q=fiasco+the+american+military+adventure+in+iraq |language=en}}</ref>

Al-Sahhaf gained something of a cult following in the West, appearing on T-shirts, cartoons, and in [[Internet celebrity|Internet phenomena]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/ |title=We Love the Iraqi Information Minister |publisher=We Love the Iraqi Information Minister |url-status=dead |date=30 May 2003 |access-date=11 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050306030502/http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/ |archive-date=6 March 2005 }}</ref> In the UK, a DVD documentary was sold about his exploits and televised interviews, called ''Comical Ali''.