Hussein Keeps Low Profile--And Control

President Saddam Hussein of Iraq appears to be keeping a low public profile as his confrontation with the United States intensifies. But Arab diplomats and other knowledgeable sources said Monday that he is firmly in control in Baghdad.

The last time he was seen by the outside world was Aug. 14, when Iraqi’s state-run television showed him greeting King Hussein of Jordan, one of his closest allies, at Baghdad Airport. The Jordanian monarch was in Iraq for talks on the crisis after Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait.

President Hussein, 54, has made several important statements over the last few days, but these have been read on Iraqi television and radio by an announcer.

The sources, all speaking on condition of anonymity, dismissed reports in the Arab media that there have been attempts to assassinate Hussein and his senior aides in recent days.

One well-informed source declared: “He’s very much alive. These reports are groundless.” The source said the Iraqi capital is “calm, but naturally a little tense” as Iraq builds up its forces in Kuwait and the United States strengthens its military contingent in Saudi Arabia.

Official sources in Cairo reported Monday that the Foreign Ministry received a report from Sayed abu Zaid, Egypt’s ambassador in Baghdad, that made no mention of any attempts on Hussein’s life.

Baghdad Radio reported that Hussein met Monday with Indian External Affairs Minister Inder Gujral to discuss “bilateral relations.” The meeting was attended by Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz, it said.

It also reported that the president sent a close confidant, Deputy Prime Minister Saadoun Hammadi, to Moscow on Monday. Hammadi is a member of the ruling 11-member Revolutionary Command Council headed by Hussein.

A senior military source in an Arab capital said Monday that he was in daily telephone contact with Hussein and that the Iraqi leader was clearly in control in Baghdad.

This source said Hussein is “living with his in-laws in Baghdad. He’s not hiding out in a military base as everyone thinks.”

Egypt’s Middle East News Agency last week quoted a Palestinian official as saying he met Hussein at a military complex outside Baghdad, where the Iraqi leader, “haggard and pale,” was protected by heavy security after a reported assassination attempt.

During Iraq’s 1980-88 war with Iran, Hussein was often not seen in public for periods of up to two weeks. But the state-controlled media bombarded Iraq’s 16 million people with photographs and television footage of their leader in uniform with his troops or meeting commanders.