US may release photos of Saddam’s sons’ bodies

THE US may release graphic photos of the bullet-ridden corpses of Saddam Hussein’s sons to convince sceptical Iraqis that they are dead, Bush administration officials said last night.

US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the Pentagon was considering making public the “shocking” headshots of the men taken after they were killed in a fierce gun battle in northern Iraq yesterday.

Releasing the images was directly connected to the security of US forces as it would help convince doubtful Iraqis that Saddam’s regime was history, he said. Meanwhile, it emerged last night that Saddam Hussein’s cousin, who gave the deposed Iraqi leader’s sons sanctuary then betrayed them for $30 million, was in US protective custody, unable ever to return home.

While thousands of Iraqis celebrated the bloody deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein (they were killed in a hail of US missiles), many in the northern city of Mosul said if Nawaf al-Zaydan Muhhamad showed his face he would be killed.

US forces had been led to their mansion hideout by the owner, Muhhamad, a cousin of Saddam and a tribal leader in the region.

Another $30 million is on offer from the US for Saddam.

Fear among Iraqis that Saddam and his sons may return to power is believed to have stopped many from coming forward with information about the continued resistance against US and British troops.

Mr Wolfowitz’s comments came after the leader of the coalition forces in Iraq said dental records and independent identifications by four former regime officials showed that the two bodies were those of Qusay and Uday.

Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez also said that the injuries on one of the bodies matched those on X-rays of Uday taken after an assassination attempt crippled him.

US President George Bush said news of the deaths was proof that “the fallen regime is gone and it will not be coming back”. He vowed that America would “keep its promise” to destroy every remnant of the toppled dictatorship.

But hopes that the deaths would reduce continued resistance against US forces in Iraq received an early blow yesterday when two American soldiers were killed and eight injured in two separate incidents.