Have a look at perlman:perlfunc on what system() actually does ie a fork() exec(). The script probably hangs because ssh is waiting for user input. Try executing via backtics and printing the output from ssh.

print `ssh [blah]`;
[download]

cheers

tachyon

s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n.+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print