Baghdad, Iraq ? Declaring “victory is at hand,” Saddam Hussein issued a new statement urging Iraqis to continue fighting in defense of their towns, according to a broadcast Wednesday on Iraqi television.

Two additional statements Wednesday were also attributed to Saddam — a warning to Iraqi Kurdish leaders who are cooperating with U.S. forces in northern Iraq, and an offer of cash rewards to those who help identify spies for the U.S.-led coalition.

Saddam did not read the statements on the air, and there was immediate way to verify he authored them. American officials say they don’t know if he is alive, wounded, or dead.

Late Wednesday, Iraqi state television showed footage of Saddam meeting with Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and several Cabinet ministers and aides. The footage, which was silent, showed Saddam in a military uniform looking relaxed and even laughing at one point.

The statement to Iraqi Kurdish leaders was read Wednesday night on Iraqi state television by Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf.

“I advise you not to rush and do something that you’ll regret so long as you know that this leadership and the government it leads in the face of invaders will remain,” Saddam told Jalal Talbani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

“It is my moral and constitutional duty to warn you of the dangers of the game this time round if you and others persist in taking part,” Saddam warned Talbani in the message that, according to Sahhaf, was copied to the other main Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani.

Wednesday night, a news anchor in uniform said Saddam repeatedly urged his people to rise up, saying the country’s armed forces have yet to display their full battle capabilities.

“Fight them so that Iraq, the bastion of religion and principles, will be secured and our (Islamic) nation will come out of this crisis glorious,” the statement read. “Fight them. Victory is at hand, God willing, although we have only utilized a third or less of our army while the criminals have used everything they brought in.”