Who Was That Mad Man

Hollywood’s favorite Saddam Hussein double, Jerry Haleva,firmly denies that it was he who spoke over Baghdad television on the openingday of the war.

“I would never wear such ugly glasses,” he protested.

Haleva bears a striking resemblance to the Iraqi dictator,especially when he strides into a diplomatic reception, complete with beret andfull uniform.

“Only in America could a nice Sephardic boy get paid to makefun of Saddam,” he marveled.

Even better, Haleva is a pro-Israeli activist, who serves onthe national executive board of the American Israel Public Affairs Committeeand chaired the Jewish Federation of Sacramento.

In his daytime job, he is a successful business and industrylobbyist in the California state capital.

As an actor, his film career took off with the first PersianGulf war and he has played you-know-who in “Hot Shots,” “Hot Shots! Part Deux,””Jane Austen’s Mafia!” “The Big Lebowski” and last year’s HBO mockumentary,”Live From Baghdad.”

Working a convention in full regalia a few years ago, he raninto former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. The two men shook hands andHaleva used the photo in his firm’s marketing brochure with the caption, “If wecan make this happen, how hard can your issue be?”

Showing no favoritism, he has also posed with Prime MinisterAriel Sharon.

Haleva’s most recent gig was three months ago, when heinterrupted a speech by George Shultz, breaking up both the meeting and theformer secretary of state.

The busy lobbyist, who at 56 is 10 years younger thanSaddam, has put his other persona on hold for the duration of the fighting.”This is too serious a time for America and Israel to trivialize thesituation,” he says.

But after the war? “As an actor, I hope Saddam goes intoexile and my career extends,” Haleva said. “But as an American, I hope I get todo his epitaph.”