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.