With no sign of emotion, the two leaders exhort their nations

The speech was the kind you might have expected from the leader of a nation about to enter into war. The enemy are shameless criminals, our troops brave and honourable. Those who seek to destroy us are buttressed by atrocity, where we are supported by faith and family, by history and civilisation. But they are doomed to failure. For victory will be ours.

Deconstruct yesterday's "now battle has been joined" speeches by George Bush and Saddam Hussein and what is most striking is the confluence of the sentiments, the similarity of the rhetorical devices and the attempt to push exactly the same psychological, religious and emotional buttons.

They even shared something in their mode of delivery. President Bush's address came from the Oval Office in the White House. To his right stood the Stars and Stripes, to his left a flag depicting the American eagle. Photographs of his family were carefully in camera shot, though bizarrely they faced out to the camera rather than inwards; the President himself could not see them.

Before him – on a desk made from the wood of a British naval ship called HMS Resolute and donated to the country by Queen Victoria – lay his prepared text, though he delivered it from an autocue. You could see his eyes as well as his lips moving.

"My fellow citizens," he began, wearing a lounge suit and tie the colour of dried blood, "at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger. On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war."

He looked nervous. He blinked often. His brow was unceasingly furrowed as if he were permanently perplexed.

A few hours later, somewhere in Iraq Saddam Hussein took to the airwaves. He appeared to be seated in a small room, rather than one of the palace suites from which he normally broadcasts. He, too, read from a prepared text, wearing heavy black-framed spectacles, which he rarely dons in public. Behind him hung a blue curtain patterned with what looked like yellow mushroom cloud explosions. He too was expressionless. Was this what is meant by the banality of evil?

"At dawn prayers," he began wearing a military uniform and a beret that looked as if it had been blown to one side by a stiff wind or an explosive blast, "the criminal reckless little Bush and his aides committed the crime he was threatening to commit against Iraq and humanity. I pledge to you ... that Iraq will carry out jihad with the heroic army in the Iraq of civilization, history and belief; we will fight the invaders and drive them, God willing, to ... lose their patience and lose their way." His face, for all the rhetoric, seemed as bereft of emotion as Mr Bush's.

The two presidents revealed that, though the world was eavesdropping on their words, they were broadcasting chiefly to their own. Some references were culturally specific. Both invoked the aid of God, though President Saddam, in extravagant Arabic, called upon the Almighty no fewer than eight times compared with President Bush's single invocation.

The Iraqi leader quoted large chunks of high-flown poetry designed to summon the memory of the great Islamic anti-crusader Saladin. The American leader sounded more managerial and technocratic and made comparisons between the size of Iraq and California that non-Americans might have found difficult to fathom. But both men seemed sure of the audiences they were mentally addressing.

They spoke to their troops. "The enemies you confront," said President Bush, "will come to know your skill and bravery. The people you liberate will witness the honourable and decent spirit of the American military." They were words echoed by President Saddam: "Oh Iraqis and brave men in our nation. For the sake of our glorious nation ... and its religion, precious values, family and children ... [do] not forget that these days will add to earning you the glory you deserve before God."

You could imagine the sinews being stiffened throughout the United States and Iraq alike. The rest of the world, though, saw two tired men with fixed expressions, talking in chopped monotones. They looked, for all the power which attaches to them, terrifyingly alike, as if victims of an evil hypnotist, sleepwalking into war.

In George Bush's words

My fellow citizens, at this hour American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.

On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war. More than 35 countries are giving crucial support, from the use of naval and air bases, to help with intelligence and logistics, to the deployment of combat units.

To all of the men and women of the United States armed forces now in the Middle East, the peace of a troubled world and the hopes of an oppressed people now depend on you.

In this conflict, America faces an enemy who has no regard for conventions of war or rules of morality. Saddam Hussein has placed Iraqi troops and equipment in civilian areas, attempting to use innocent men, women and children as shields for his own military – a final atrocity against his people.

In Saddam Hussein's words

"At dawn prayers today on 17 Muharram 1424, [20 March 2003] the criminal, reckless little Bush and his aides committed this crime, which he was threatening to commit against Iraq and humanity. He executed his criminal act with his allies; thereby he and his followers have added to the series of shameful crimes committed against Iraq and humanity ...

"To the Iraqis and the good people of our nation. Your country, your glorious nation and your principles are worth the sacrifices of yourself, your souls, your family and your sons ...

"These days, and according to God's will, will add to the eternal history of glorious Iraq ...

"We pledge to you we will fight the invaders and, God willing, we will take them to the limit, at which they will lose their patience and any hope to achieve what they have planned and what the Zionist criminal has pushed them to do ... They will be defeated ...

"Allahu akbar and defeat to the lowly ones."