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US defends Saddam sons' photos
The CD-Rom included photos of the brothers alive
United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said it was right to release graphic pictures showing what the US says are the mutilated bodies of Saddam Hussein's sons.
The US says its troops killed Uday and Qusay Hussein in a raid in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday - but many Iraqis insisted on proof that they were dead.
There had been intense debate in Washington over releasing the photos of Uday and Qusay, as the US does not usually publish pictures of dead combatants.
A BBC correspondent in Baghdad, says television crews will be allowed to film the bodies of both men on Friday and - unusually for the holy day - a newspaper is being published carrying the images.
As far as I am concerned we have found two WMD's and eliminated them
Tim Hutchings, USA
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Mr Rumsfeld said the publication of pictures would save American and coalition lives and prove that Iraq's former rulers would not return.
The BBC's Nick Bryant in Washington says some Pentagon generals found the release "repugnant".
Mr Rumsfeld told reporters on Thursday that the decision had not been easy.
However, he said, "it's important for the Iraqi people to see them, to know they're gone, to know they're dead and to know they're not coming back".
"I feel it was the right decision and I'm glad I made it," the defence secretary added.
After the pictures were shown on Arabic satellite television channels, cars in Baghdad could be heard honking their horns and there was a sustained burst of gunfire.
Doubt
Iraqis began to express doubt about the photos within an hour of their being released, the Associated Press news agency reported from Baghdad.
"I'm not convinced the pictures are of Uday and Qusay," accountant Shant Agob, 37, told the agency after seeing the pictures on CNN.
Images which the US says show Saddam Hussein's sons are dead. (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)
In pictures
"Even if they are, I'm not happy. I would have been happy if they were captured alive and brought to justice before the Iraqi people," he said.
Other Iraqis also were sceptical, from barbers to a former head of Iraqi military intelligence who defected to the opposition.
But several people in Baghdad told the BBC they were convinced by the pictures.
They were released on a CD-Rom that included two pictures of each brother, plus images of them when they were alive and X-ray slides.
One photograph appears to show Qusay lying in a plastic body bag that has been opened at the top.
He has a heavy beard, either as a disguise or because he was on the run, and his face is heavily bloodied, our correspondent says.
The photograph of Uday shows a similarly bearded man with a scar or discolouration running along his face - which might support some coalition claims that he tried to take his own life or did take his own life rather than be captured.
The CD-Rom included photos of the brothers alive
United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said it was right to release graphic pictures showing what the US says are the mutilated bodies of Saddam Hussein's sons.
The US says its troops killed Uday and Qusay Hussein in a raid in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday - but many Iraqis insisted on proof that they were dead.
There had been intense debate in Washington over releasing the photos of Uday and Qusay, as the US does not usually publish pictures of dead combatants.
A BBC correspondent in Baghdad, says television crews will be allowed to film the bodies of both men on Friday and - unusually for the holy day - a newspaper is being published carrying the images.
As far as I am concerned we have found two WMD's and eliminated them
Tim Hutchings, USA
Send us your comments
Mr Rumsfeld said the publication of pictures would save American and coalition lives and prove that Iraq's former rulers would not return.
The BBC's Nick Bryant in Washington says some Pentagon generals found the release "repugnant".
Mr Rumsfeld told reporters on Thursday that the decision had not been easy.
However, he said, "it's important for the Iraqi people to see them, to know they're gone, to know they're dead and to know they're not coming back".
"I feel it was the right decision and I'm glad I made it," the defence secretary added.
After the pictures were shown on Arabic satellite television channels, cars in Baghdad could be heard honking their horns and there was a sustained burst of gunfire.
Doubt
Iraqis began to express doubt about the photos within an hour of their being released, the Associated Press news agency reported from Baghdad.
"I'm not convinced the pictures are of Uday and Qusay," accountant Shant Agob, 37, told the agency after seeing the pictures on CNN.
Images which the US says show Saddam Hussein's sons are dead. (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)
In pictures
"Even if they are, I'm not happy. I would have been happy if they were captured alive and brought to justice before the Iraqi people," he said.
Other Iraqis also were sceptical, from barbers to a former head of Iraqi military intelligence who defected to the opposition.
But several people in Baghdad told the BBC they were convinced by the pictures.
They were released on a CD-Rom that included two pictures of each brother, plus images of them when they were alive and X-ray slides.
One photograph appears to show Qusay lying in a plastic body bag that has been opened at the top.
He has a heavy beard, either as a disguise or because he was on the run, and his face is heavily bloodied, our correspondent says.
The photograph of Uday shows a similarly bearded man with a scar or discolouration running along his face - which might support some coalition claims that he tried to take his own life or did take his own life rather than be captured.