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U.S. shows bodies to media
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Graphic videotape images of two bullet-riddled bodies the U.S. military says are the sons of Saddam Hussein have been beamed around the world in an effort to dispel doubts that the brothers are dead. The U.S. military took the unusual step of allowing reporters to view and videotape the bodies Friday at close range and in extensive detail after acknowledging that still photos released Thursday may not have been enough proof for many Iraqis. The Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-backed administration in Iraq, maintains that Saddam's sons were killed in an hours-long firefight with U.S. soldiers in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday. Most newspapers in the region didn't get the photos Thursday in time for Friday's editions. Iraqis were able to view the video images on Arab television in many cafes and other public places Friday. At one cafe, CNN's Rym Brahimi reported three reactions: Some said the video convinced them that Uday and Qusay were dead; some turned away from the videos' grim images; and some said it doesn't matter because the streets are still not secure and Iraqis don't have basic services. After the viewing Friday, the streets of Baghdad did not echo with celebratory gunfire as they did Tuesday when the United States announced that it had identified the bodies as those of Saddam's sons. Morticians had touched up the bodies' faces to repair damage from Tuesday's gun battle in which the Pentagon said the men were killed, U.S. officials said. Officials said the post-mortem "facial reconstruction" was standard practice and not an attempt to deceive the Iraqi people. The faces had a waxy, made-up appearance. "They do appear to be those of Uday and Qusay," Reuters correspondent Andrew Marshall said after seeing the corpses in a makeshift U.S. morgue at Baghdad's international airport Friday. U.S. officials said each body contained more than 20 bullet wounds and that there was no evidence the men had committed suicide. Reporters said the faces were in better condition than was apparent in photographs issued Thursday by the U.S. military. Officials said they rebuilt the faces to make them look as much like the brothers did before they died. Morticians shaved Qusay's heavy beard, leaving only his trademark mustache, and trimmed the thick beard on Uday's face to the length he wore it in life. A gaping wound in Uday's face, visible in the photos, appeared to have been repaired, but reporters could still see a hole in the top of his head, Reuters said. Autopsy incisions were clearly visible on both bodies, as well as multiple gunshot wounds and other abrasions. A military lab in Washington will conduct DNA tests on tissue taken from both bodies. Officials escorted about 15 reporters, including Associated Press, Reuters and Al Jazeera cameramen, into a mortuary tent at Bagdhad's international airport for the viewing early Friday. Officials showed reporters a metal rod they said they removed from one of Uday's legs, and said the rod's serial and model numbers matched their records. A rod was inserted into Uday's leg during reconstructive surgery after a 1996 assassination attempt. Officials said the bodies would be kept refrigerated at the airport until a family member comes forward to claim them. U.S. civil administrators in Iraq are discussing with the country's new governing council how to preserve the bodies according to Islamic custom. Muslims are typically buried before nightfall the day they die. U.S. medical personnel told reporters they treated the bodies with the same respect they would have accorded any corpse, AP said. Reporters were shown the bodies as Iraqis continued to debate the validity of the grisly U.S. photos purporting to prove that the ousted president's sons were dead. The Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-led administration in Iraq, released photographs of the blood-spattered, bearded corpses to news agencies. Senior Iraqi officials in U.S. custody also have identified the remains, U.S. officials said. (U.S. releases death photos) But a coalition spokeswoman acknowledged that releasing the dark, grainy photos may not have been enough to prove Saddam's sons were dead. On Thursday, CNN, U.S.-sponsored Iraqi TV and two Arab satellite television networks broadcast the photos in Iraq. But some Iraqis complained the photographs did not show the sons' full bodies. CNN's Harris Whitbeck in Baghdad said the reaction among Iraqis to the photos was one of "deep skepticism." Uday, 39, and Qusay, 37, died Tuesday in a six-hour battle with U.S. troops who tried to capture them at a home in Mosul in northern Iraq, according to the Pentagon. The brothers -- second and third on America's list of most-wanted fugitives in Iraq, behind their father -- were feared nationwide as ruthless killers and protectors of Saddam's dictatorship. Former CIA Director James Woolsey told CNN that releasing the photographs was necessary despite ethical reservations. (Ethical questions) U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said it was his decision to release the pictures, and that he hoped by doing so he might save American lives and undercut the Iraqi resistance. On Thursday, three U.S. soldiers were killed in a gun and rocket grenade attack. It was the most deadly attack on U.S. forces since the end of the war and occurred close to where Uday and Qusay were killed. (Three killed in Iraqi ambush) Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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