Photos: Doubts linger
2003-07-24 20:49
Baghdad - The US military released graphic pictures showing the faces of Saddam Hussein's sons on Thursday as it sought to assure - and convince - Iraqis the feared siblings were dead hours after three more American soldiers were killed by insurgents.
The two pictures of each brother were released two days after the brothers were killed in a fierce firefight in the northern town of Mosul and showed only their heads, bruised, battered and bloodied.
Officials hoped the pictures would sap the morale and drive of insurgents and perhaps reduce their daily attacks on US forces, which have been occuring as often as 12 times daily.
The pictures were shown on Iraqi television, as well as Arab satellite channels like al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera.
Authenticity
But some Iraqis who saw them doubted their authenticity.
"They say they are killed, but the pictures don't show this," said Mahdi al-Ameri, 46, a civil engineer, who saw them aired on Iraqi television. "I am doubtful."
Two of the photos showed what appeared to be Uday, the older brother, with a severely bloodied face. He had a gash running from his left eye to the right corner of his mouth, bruises over his forehead.
Qusay, depicted in two other photos according to the US military, had bruises and blood marks on his eyes. His face was far more intact than Uday's and his mouth was open with his teeth showing.
The brothers had never worn such thick beards, and may have been trying to disguise their identities as they spent 3 1/2 months in hiding from coalition forces.
Abbas Fadhil, 44, said it was the first time he could remember seeing Qusay with a beard. The younger brother of Qusay typically sported a moustache.
Attacks
Whether the photos will help reduce the number of attacks on US troops remains uncertain. Earlier on Thursday, three American soldiers were killed when their convoy was hit by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in northern Iraq, a military spokesperson said. In Baghdad, two Iraqis were killed when their car approached a US military checkpoint.
Arab broadcaster al-Arabiya aired a tape of what it said were a group of Saddam Fedayeen vowing revenge for the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein on Tuesday.
"We want to say to the occupation forces, they said last night that killing Uday and Qusay will diminish (resistance) attacks but we want to say to them that their death will increase attacks against them," one of three masked men in the tape read from a statement.
The Fedayeen militia was once led by Uday. Coalition officials have repeatedly blamed former militia members for some of the attacks on US soldiers.
The attack on the soldiers was the second in two days that killed members of the 101st Airborne Division, which led the intense but sporadic fiery assault in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that killed Uday and Qusay.
In Baghdad, a spokesperson for the Coalition Provisional Authority said some members of the country's Governing Council were shown the brothers' bodies, which are being kept at Baghdad International Airport.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the spokesperson said the CPA was also talking with the Council about how to release pictures of the bodies to the public. Many Iraqis are likely to remain skeptical of the US account of the brothers' death without proof.
"There isn't the slightest doubt in our minds that these are the bodies of Uday and Qusay," he said.
Soldiers
Military spokeswoman Spc. Nicole Thompson in Baghdad said the soldiers killed on Thursday were traveling in a convoy toward Qayyarah, 300km north of the capital.
No other soldiers in the convoy near Mosul were wounded, Thompson said, adding the convoy's starting point wasn't known.
There was no word if any of the attackers were acting out of revenge over the deaths of Uday and Qusay.
The deaths brought to 158 the number of American servicemen killed in action since the war began March 20, surpassing by 11 the death toll in the 1991 Gulf War.
The Hussein brothers were Nos. 2 and 3 on the US list of 55 most-wanted from the toppled Saddam regime. Guerrilla holdouts loyal to the regime have been attacking US forces nearly 12 times a day in a bid wear down the American occupation and drive it from Iraq.
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition troops in Iraq, said the brothers, along with two others thought to be Qusay's teenage son, Mustafa, and a bodyguard, barricaded themselves on the second floor of the three-story home in Mosul.
They were killed, he said, after anti-tank rockets were fired from Humvees during the four-hour siege.
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his home in London, Izzedin Kamel Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of the two brothers, said Uday and Qusay were likely relaxing in house when the Americans approached it.
"They went to this man in particular because he was a member of the family and they thought they could stay there for a while, be safe and then go somewhere else," he said.
Mosque
In Baghdad on Thursday, two Iraqi men were killed after the car they were riding in approached a US checkpoint near the downtown al-Geilani mosque. Eyewitnesses told the AP that American soldiers fired at the car, causing it to catch fire.
Military spokesperson Giovanni Lorente had no information about the shooting, but Thompson said American troops had cordoned off the Sunni mosque and searched it.
Mustafa Tariq, 28, a private security guard at the mosque said approximately 150 soldiers searched "every room" of the building, including the shrine.
Thompson didn't know why American soldiers had searched it.
Meanwhile, the Coalition Provisional Authority announced early this week the closure of a Baghdad newspaper and arrest of its office manager, who wasn't identified.
The statement said Al-Mustaqila, which means "The Independent" in Arabic, published an article July 13 calling for "death to all spies and those who co-operate with the US".
It said killing them was a religious duty.
- AP