Photos of sons 'a clear signal'

2003-07-25 08:24

Washington - The United States military released grisly photos of the bodies of Uday and Qusay Hussein on Thursday, then defended this as "a very clear signal to the Iraqis that the Hussein family is finished" and won't be back.

Defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the decision to release the pictures of the mutilated corpses of Saddam Hussein's feared and hated sons was difficult.

He said: "I feel it was the right decision and I'm glad I did it.

"The brutal careers of Uday and Qusay Hussein came to an end, sending a very clear signal to the Iraqis that the Hussein family is finished and will not be returning to terrorise them again.

"Coalition forces will continue to root out, capture and kill the remnants of the former regime until they no longer pose a threat to the Iraqi people."

The brothers were killed on Tuesday in a vicious battle in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul.

Five photos of their bodies were distributed to the press in Baghdad on computer discs early on Thursday and quickly found their way to television stations and newspapers around the world.

'Liberated the country'

Rumsfeld said: "I honestly believe these two are pretty bad characters and that is important for the Iraqis to know they are gone, to know they're dead, that they're not coming back.

"But the more important point we're making is that the Ba'athists are finished. Saddam and his henchmen are finished. The strategic importance of the killings... is to help us persuade the Iraqi people that we have liberated the country."

Saddam, himself, has been in hiding since the fall of his regime to the US-British invaders on April 9, and speculation remains rife on whether he is dead or alive.

Audio tapes of his voice, recorded on July 20 and aired by Arab-language broadcasters in recent days, are "probably authentic", according to Central Intelligence Agency analysts.

Paul Bremer, the US interim administrator in Baghdad, said the release of the pictures was likely to provoke a backlash of attacks on US forces in Iraq.

"I would not be surprised to see an uptick in violence against our forces," he said at a joint appearance with Rumsfeld in Washington.

Hooded gunmen hail Saddam's sons

"But, I think in the long run, it will also hopefully encourage more Iraqis to come and give us information about more Ba'athists and that's really what we have to have happen next.

"The strategic importance of the killings," he said, "is to help us persuade the Iraqi people that we are there, having liberated the country, we're there and we're going to be sure that these Baathists have no future."

Meanwhile, hooded gunmen describing themselves as loyalist militiamen of Saddam hailed his sons for "choosing martyrdom rather than surrender" to the overwhelming US forces besieging the villa in which they were holed up.

"The occupation forces say the killing of Uday and Qusay will reduce attacks... We tell them it will increase attacks," said one of the gunmen said in videotape aired by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television.

Brandishing assault rifles and rocked-propelled grenades, the group said they were members of "Saddam's Fedayeen" in the province of al-Anbar, west of Baghdad, where US forces have repeatedly come under attack by elements believed to be loyalists of the ousted strongman.

X-ray shows break in Uday's leg

Three US soldiers have been killed in an ambush near Mosul, a town which previously had seen only rare strikes on US forces. One soldier was killed and seven were wounded near the town on Wednesday.

The dead and wounded belonged to the 101st Airborne division, which led the four-hour assault on Saddam's sons.

Two of the pictures released on Thursday showed the bloodied body of Saddam's younger son and heir apparent, Qusay, two were of the feared elder son, Uday, while a fifth was an X-ray of Uday's leg.

This had been badly injured in a 1996 attempt on his life and mended with a metal pin clearly visible in the X-ray.

The US military had already shown the bodies to members of Iraq's transitional governing council after they had asked to see the evidence for themselves.

Council member Muwaffak al-Rubaiei said after inspecting the corpses: "There is no shadow of a doubt these are the bodies of Qusay and Uday.

A doctor said: "All members (of the council) agreed the bodies were those of Uday and Qusay."

Rubaiei said council members had gone to see the corpses individually "to keep the dignity of the dead".

But he did not conceal his joy at the deaths of two of the most-hated figures of the ousted regime.

"They went to hell. Their bodies are there, but their souls went to hell. The Iraqi people have got rid of two of the biggest criminals in history," he said.

Self-rule within 18 months

A senior US official said: "The Iraqi people would like to see these guys tied to the back of a vehicle and dragged through the streets, but we're not going to do that."

Rubaiei said council members had not discussed how the bodies would be disposed of.

In London, a member of the governing council, meeting with British foreign secretary Jack Straw and defence secretary Geoff Hoon, vowed his country would return to self-rule within 18 months.

"The whole process will probably take a year... a year and a half in any case," said Adnan Pachachi, referring to the election of a convention of ministers by the Iraqi people and the drawing up of a constitution.

The council is charged with forming a convention to draw up a new constitution for Iraq.

It will be subject to a referendum before the first democratic elections, expected by next summer.

- AFX