A confident and defiant Saddam Hussein was back on Iraqi television today, urging Iraqis to "strike your enemy strongly and accurately" and saying his troops were inflicting "serious damage" on enemy forces as U.S. ground units closed in on Baghdad.

The Iraqi president's most recent appearance--in which he appeared in full military uniform and made references to recent military actions--once again stirred up speculation as to whether or not he had either been killed or severely injured during an early attack on one of his compounds in the Iraqi capital.

Hussein appeared tired and unfocused last Thursday during a post-attack address that was scrutinized by military and media specialists to find out if it was authentic or not.

Today's 20-minute speech appeared to be recorded, according to U.S. and British officials. Hussein has traditionally taped his television speeches in advance, but analysts have not been able to determine if these appearances were made well ahead of last week's attacks. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that analysts at the CIA would try to see if the voice on the tape-address was indeed Hussein's. The Iraqi leader has a number of doubles but they rarely speak when they stand in for him, according to diplomats.

"But that's only half of the problem because even if it's his voice it doesn't give you any indication about when it was taped," Fleischer said. "We don't know when it was recorded, how old it may be, whether it was new."

British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said he was not convinced that the address was current.

"The contemporary events referred to ... did not appear to me to be unambiguously contemporary," he said. "And had he have wanted to indicate that this was live, or was recent, there were many events that he could have referred to, which he clearly did not," he said. "So that is why we are continuing to analyze the situation."

Appearing in front a white sheet used as a backdrop, Saddam said American and British forces had "become entangled" in Iraq's desert, with "Iraqi residents surrounding them and aiming their fire at them."

"As time goes by, they will lose more and they will not be able to escape lightly from their predicament," he said. "We will make it as painful as we can."

Saddam said the ground battles were going well and Iraqi troops had been able to inflict great losses on the enemy. He praised his commanders, several of them by name, saying their units fought fiercely against coalition troops.

Among those he named were the commanders of the 51st, 11th and 18th divisions, which are posted in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. One of those commanders, Lt. Gen. Khaled Saleh al-Hashimi of the 51st, was interviewed by the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera in Basra on Sunday. Earlier reports said he surrendered to U.S. troops.

He also made reference to the intense battles around the port city of Umm Qasr near Basra. "I make special mention of...the general who lifted high the banner of jihad (holy war) and the name of Iraq in the epic battle of Umm Qasr, him and his men," Hussein said.

Saddam said the allies were "trying to avoid engaging our forces" -- a clear reference to the U.S. strategy of avoiding having to enter provincial cities -- and noted that unlike the previous Gulf War the "enemy tried not using missiles and fighter jets as they did before. This time, they sent their infantry troops."

While the references in Hussein's speech seemed current, one intelligence analyst said there was praise for some Iraqi military units that had yet to be involved in any direct fighting.

Saddam said American and British forces had "become entangled" in Iraq's desert, with "Iraqi residents surrounding them and aiming their fire at them."

Times wire services contributed to this report

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