Saddams's Sons Buried.

Sky News ^ | NA

[Dog]

SADDAM'S SONS BURIED

The bodies of Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay have reportedly been buried in the deposed dictator's home town of Tikrit.

Witnesses said the bodies were wrapped in Iraqi flags and buried in a local cemetery, after arriving from Baghdad in an ambulance.

There was a heavy US military presence and journalists were prevented from photographing or filming the burial.

Saddam's dreaded sons were killed in a US raid on a house in the northern city of Mosul nearly two weeks ago.

US authorities said earlier this week they would hold on to the bodies until relatives came to claim them.

Muslim traditions stipulate that the dead should be buried as soon as possible.

The burials came as digitally enhanced pictures of what former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein might look like were released by US army chiefs.

The pictures show the normally mustachioed Saddam clean shaven or with a beard, and also show him with white and grey hair rather than his usual dark hair.

One of the pictures, created by US Central Command, shows him in a traditional Arab headdress.

Spokesman Lt. Ryan Fitzgerald said US troops in Iraq were given the five altered images to help them recognise Saddam in the event he has changed his appearance to escape capture.

Units hunting Saddam, including the secretive Task Force 20 leading the search, have been given the digitally enhanced pictures, according to a military spokesman in Iraq.

Last Updated: 10:30 UK, Saturday August 02, 2003

[Dog]

That takes care of that matter..

[Nateman]

Should have ground them up with pig poop and flushed it down the toliet.

[Revelation 911]

why so long on the retouched photos - I would have thought this would have been the first thing to happen

[kattracks]

Saddam's sons buried in Iraq amid tight security

By Alastair Macdonald and Oleg Popov

TIKRIT, Iraq, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein's feared sons Uday and Qusay, killed last month by U.S. troops, were buried in the deposed dictator's home town of Tikrit on Saturday in a swift and heavily guarded ceremony, locals said.

They said the bodies were wrapped in Iraqi flags and buried in a local cemetery after arriving from Baghdad in an ambulance. There was a heavy U.S. army presence and journalists were prevented from photographing or filming the burial.

Uday and Qusay were killed on July 22 when U.S. troops attacked their hideout in the northern city of Mosul with grenades, heavy machineguns, rockets and anti-tank missiles.

U.S. officers said they hoped the killing of the brothers would demoralise guerrillas mounting daily ambushes on U.S. troops. But there has been no let-up in attacks.

A U.S. army spokesman said one soldier was killed and three wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a 4th Infantry Division convoy in northern Iraq late on Friday. The ambush brought to 53 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in hostile action since Washington declared major combat over on May 1.

A U.S. army spokesman confirmed the bodies of Saddam's sons had been handed over to the Iraqi Red Crescent, but would make no further comment on the burial.

Muslim tradition stipulates that bodies must be buried as soon as possible after death. But U.S. officials, anxious to avoid the grave site of the brothers becoming a shrine, said they had delayed the burial while they consulted prominent Iraqis on what should be done with the corpses.

Witnesses said at least two representatives from Saddam's tribe were present when the bodies were buried.

Some locals in Tikrit, a stronghold of support for Saddam, said they regarded the dead brothers as marytrs.

"They are the heroes of Iraq," one said.

NIGHT RAID

U.S. troops have mounted several raids in Tikrit over the past week, searching for Saddam and his top lieutenants. Officers say the net is closing on the fugitive leader.

In the latest raid on Friday night, soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, 1st Brigade, swooped on a house in Tikrit and seized a man suspected of organising guerrilla attacks.

"The individual that we were targeting tonight we believe is involved in organising attacks on U.S. forces, in moving arms for these attacks, and also providing security for members of the regime," Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, told reporters at the scene.

The raid on a walled villa in a quiet, residential neighbourhood, involved several U.S. units, including two helicopters and soldiers equipped with night vision gear. The suspect was led away in plastic handcuffs, blindfolded, and driven off in a truck for interrogation.

On Friday afternoon, two other Saddam loyalists were detained near Tikrit, 170 km (105 miles) north of Baghdad, officers said. They were the latest of "scores" of such figures, some quite senior, detained in raids this week.

Colonel James Hickey, commander of the 1st Brigade, said it was "absolutely possible" that Saddam was hiding around Tikrit.

"We're acting on the assumption he could very well be here," he told reporters during a night patrol that he said was part of an offensive campaign against anti-U.S. resistance.

"If he is here, we will get him," he said. "I am prepared to kill or capture any high-ranking member of the regime."

But despite a $25 million price on his head, Saddam has yet to be found. Taped messages said to have been recorded by the deposed president have been aired on Arab television networks, exhorting Iraqis to fight a holy war to expel occupying troops.

CIA officials say the most recent tapes, broadcast on Tuesday and Friday, are probably genuine.

Saddam's eldest daughters Raghd, 36, and Rana, 34, said in interviews in Jordan they did not know where their father was. The two arrived in Amman on Thursday and were given asylum.

Describing the collapse of Saddam's iron rule in April, Raghd told Al Arabiya television she was in Baghdad with Rana sitting by the radio all night, following the news and praying.

"I kept telling my sister it was all over," Raghd said. "Shortly after 12 noon my father sent us cars from his special protection forces with a message saying 'Leave'."

In a lengthy interview, Raghd said: "The moment of farewell was awful, the children were hugging each other and crying."

Asked whether she expected to hear from Saddam, Raghd told CNN: "I know him very well. He's not going to tell anyone where he is now. Even my mother or any other person in the family."



08/02/03 06:09 ET

[W04Man]

Now they need to put a web cam on it so we can see who visits the graves. Then take appropriate action.

[Dog]

I was thinking the same thing.....I bet the military has thought of that also.

[Sacajaweau]

I was just thinking the same thing...so we are all definitely on the same track...except for one thing...does he really care about anyone??

[Dog]

I could see him doing it and having a someone film it to splash all over Al-Jazerra....Saddam honoring the martyrs type thing.

[TomGuy]

Witnesses said the bodies were wrapped in Iraqi flags and buried in a local cemetery, after arriving from Baghdad in an ambulance.

Their heads impaled at the gates to Bagdad for a month would have seemed more appropriate.

Sometimes, we become too civilized--and that opens civilization up to invasions by barbarians. Civilizations have difficulty in fending off barbarians, because civilizations have difficulty in using barbarious tactics to fight barbarian invaders.

History repeats itself. Each generation seems to have so much difficulty in learning from the past. And a new hoard of barbarians gather and train for their attack on civilization. It happened in the past. It is happening now. It will happen in each next generation to come. History is cyclical. Civilizations rise and civilizations fall. And a new hoard of barbarians gather and train for their attack on civilization.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

May I suggest a tasteful headstone...

[zarf]

New use for the Hussein grave site.

[Quix]

DOES HE REALLY CARE ABOUT ANYONE

. . . thinking . . .

. . .............thinking some more . . . . .

. . . . . .ahhhhhhhh . . .

The idiot in his mirror.

[b4its2late]

24 hour sniper watch, with those kewl night scopes.

[chuknospam]

Well, how long until someone digs them up and starts selling their pieces on Ebay? Can you say, "enterprising young Iraqi"?

[steveegg]

We actually had 3 choices here:

• Bury them immediately in unmarked graves.
• Put their heads on pikes at the gates to Baghdad for a month.
• Say to the rest of the Hussein clan, "Come and get them."

Me, I would have buried the legs immediately, let the clan claim the torsos, and piked the heads for a month.

[Caipirabob]

[JesseHousman]

Too bad Raghead and Rana couldn't have been tossed in with them.

[demlosers]

I was thinking the same thing.....I bet the military has thought of that also.

You can also bet Saddam thought of it too...

[OldSmaj]

The libs over on a certain un-named lib site are going absolutely batcrap over Colin Powell referring to Saddam as "trash" that needs to be thrown out.

After they read this thread (and yes, you bozos, we know you lurk here), they should be absolutely apoplectic over some of the more hilarious ones.

I particularly like the squatting grayhound and the Hoggly Woggly sign.