There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics

Reports of their deaths may be greatly exaggerated. Given the dodgy quality of the information that the Americans and the British have been indoctrinating the rest of the world with, there is still a good chance that Qusay and Uday — not to mention the 14 year-old boy — are alive and well.

To convince the world, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld released pictures of the bodies of Saddam Hussein's sons to prove they are dead.

US Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of the Coalition's ground forces, said dental records had shown a 90% match in the case of Uday Hussein, although he stressed that damage to his teeth meant a 100% match was impossible.