Dubbed ‘Comical Ali’, he set new standards of anti-American rhetoric, describing them as “bloodsucking bastards”, “ignorant imperialists, losers and fools”.
“They are superpower of villains,” he declaimed, “they are superpower of Al Capone.”
He flatly denied what viewers could see on their screens, even turning a blind eye to an American tank at one point. In the process, and for the sheer exuberance and unreality of his press briefings and TV appearances, he became a cult hero. A web site opened. Tee-shirts were made…
Then he disappeared. Many wondered had he committed suicide. Had he been killed in an attack? The trail was cold.
Months later he turned up in Kuwait, in civvies, seeming none the worse for wear, except without his beret. A great career as a talk-show host could yet be his!
But one of his statements lingers in the mind. Of the American invaders he said, “We will not allow them to get out of this quagmire which we trapped them in. They will see their end here.” It seemed funnier and more hopelessly optimistic in March than it does now, when it actually seems pretty prophetic. Not quite so comical, then.