White House condemns TV stunt

KENNEBUNKPORT – The White House on Friday condemned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s TV appearance with Britons he won’t allow to leave Iraq as “sick beyond expression.”

Meanwhile, President Bush prepared to interrupt his vacation and personally brief members of congress on the Persian Gulf crisis.

Bush’s press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Bush had watched a TV broadcast Thursday in which Saddam told a group of British citizens that their presence helped to prevent a U.S. military attack.

The spokesman said Saddam’s broadcast “shows the cynical and inhumane view that he holds for human life. To hold men, women and children up for viewing as targets for destruction is sick beyond expression.”

Knight-Ridder Newspapers reported Friday the identity of the British boy in the videotape who has come to symbolize the plight of the Westerners held in Iraq. He is Stuard Lockwood, and he is 5 years old.

Dressed in blue soccer shorts and white top, Stuart stood in rigid nervousness, arms crossed, inching away when Hussein patted him on the head and a military aid stroked his neck.

That telecast was labeled a “repulsive charade” by the British Foreign Office and “shameful theatrics” by the U.S. State Department.

Stuard Lockwood was identified by his aunt and uncle from a videotape of the telecast, which was seen repeatedly Thursday, and from the photographs that appeared on the front pages of nearly every newspaper.

The boy, who looked healthy and nodded when Hussein asked if he was getting his milk and cornflakes, was also seen on Iraqi television Friday playing soccer and chess with other captive boys.

“He’s just a boy, he likes what any littl boy likes,” his aunt, Judy Campbell, told reporters. “He’s football (soccer) crazy, he’s just so happy, full of fun… He looked very nervous, not the little boy we knew who came home in April.”

The Campbells also recognized Stuart’s parents, Derrick and Glenda Lockwood, in the vidoetape. The reasons the Lockwoods had been living in Bagdad were not revealed.

Bush will fly to Washington on Tuesday afternoon to meet with congressional leaders and members of key foreign policy committees.

Although Congress is still in recess, “several Congress members indicated they would like to come back to Washington for a face-to-face briefing,” Fitzwater said.

Tensions also were high in Persian Gulf waters where U.S. vessels trailed a number of Iraqi and other ships.