Friday, August 01, 2003

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Uday, left and Qusay Hussein

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- First there were the gruesome still photos of bodies the United States says are Uday and Qusay Hussein -- killed by U.S. forces during a four-hour gunfight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Now, the United States has allowed news organizations to view and videotape the actual bodies -- that have been cleaned up and reconstructed by military morticians in advance of burial.

Military pathologists said each body had been riddled with more than 20 bullet wounds.

They insist there are no signs of suicide.

The morticians shaved Qusay's full beard -- leaving only his trademark mustache.

They trimmed Uday's full beard -- leaving only the short stubble that had been his trademark.

U.S. officials are hoping the videotape will convince even the most skeptical of Iraqis that Saddam Hussein's regime is gone forever.

But some regional experts wonder about the long-term impact of releasing the pictures.

"I think clearly it's going to satisfy people who have suspicion about some of it, but some will still have conspiracy theories and that's not going to stop," says Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland.

Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies is more optimistic. "I think it was smart and I think it was necessary ... It's very important for the U.S. to convince Iraqis that they are really gone, and that they are not coming back, that what was Iraq's past is not going to be Iraq's future," says Alterman.

Meanwhile, U.S. military commanders suggest the deaths of the two sons may be having some positive impact on the ground.

During a video-teleconference from Baghdad with reporters in Washington today, Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno announced, "We had somebody come into Tikrit, the 1st Brigade, and ... give us a tip to conduct a raid on a house south of Tikrit which we conducted last night. Based on the informant south of Tikrit, we detained 13 individuals. Somewhere between five or ten of those -- we are still sorting through it -- are believed to be Saddam Hussein's personal security detachment."

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