{"id":829,"date":"2005-05-21T21:48:19","date_gmt":"2005-05-22T02:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=829"},"modified":"2005-05-21T21:49:41","modified_gmt":"2005-05-22T02:49:41","slug":"military-to-look-into-saddam-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/?p=829","title":{"rendered":"Military to Look into Saddam Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saddam in his underwear. Chemical Ali in a bathrobe. Not appealing mental images, and certainly not pictures that should have reached publication<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A British tabloid published more revealing photographs of Saddam Hussein in U.S. custody on Saturday, a day after it ran a front-page picture of the former Iraqi leader naked except for his underwear.<\/p>\n

The international Red Cross, which is responsible for monitoring prisoners of war and detainees, said the photographs violated Saddam’s right to privacy. The U.S. military condemned the publication and ordered an investigation of how the pictures were leaked to The Sun.<\/p>\n

Saturday’s pictures included one of Saddam seen through barbed wire wearing a white robe-like garment, and another of Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as “Chemical Ali,” in a bathrobe and holding a towel.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The Sun said the photos were provided by a U.S. military official it did not identify who hoped their release would deal a blow to Iraq’s insurgency. Managing editor Graham Dudman told The Associated Press that the newspaper paid “a small sum” for the photos. He would not elaborate except to say it was more than 500 British pounds, which is about $900.<\/p>\n

The New York Post, which is also owned by Murdoch, also published the photos on Friday.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military in Baghdad said the publication of the photos violated U.S. military guidelines “and possibly Geneva Convention guidelines for the humane treatment of detained individuals.”<\/p>\n

A spokesman, Staff Sgt. Don Dees, said the military would question the troops responsible for Saddam.<\/p>\n

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said U.S. military officials in Iraq believe the photos are “dated”– perhaps more than one year old, although no specific date has been established.<\/p>\n

“This is something that should not have happened,” Whitman said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whitman’s last sentiment is dead on, not only based on the treatment of prisoners but also for any possible international fallout.<\/p>\n

But what will the fallout be in the tinderbox that is Iraq and the Arab world? Apparently, decidedly mixed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Islamic world yesterday was divided over the Saddam photos \u00e2\u20ac\u201d some said the pathetic former dictator got what he deserved, while others thought the pictures were degrading.<\/p>\n

“Saddam Hussein and his regime were bloody and practiced mass killing against the people,” said Hawre Saliee, who, like many fellow Iraqi Kurds, despised the Saddam regime.<\/p>\n

“Whatever happens to Saddam, whether he is photographed naked or washing his clothes, it means nothing to me,” Saliee, 38, said.<\/p>\n

“That’s the least he deserves.”<\/p>\n

Some Iraqis \u00e2\u20ac\u201d who gathered in coffee shops in Baghdad and elsewhere to see the photos on satellite TV \u00e2\u20ac\u201d were offended to see their jailed former leader in his underwear.<\/p>\n

“This is an insult to show the former president in such a condition,” said Abu Barick, a 45-year-old Baghdad businessman.<\/p>\n

The public reaction appeared less hostile than to the publication of photos of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and certainly less violent than to Newsweek’s botched report that the Koran had been desecrated by U.S. prison guards in Cuba.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story goes on to look at reaction in the rest of the Arab lands.<\/p>\n

Ahmad Miski of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce said, “I think in places like Egypt and among the Palestinians where he was popular, people might take offense.<\/p>\n

“But in places like Iraq, Kuwait and Syria that suffered from the Ba’athists, I think people will be happy to see him like this,” he added.<\/p>\n

Barick, the Baghdad businessman, said Saddam was ancient history these days \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and didn’t deserve this attention by the news media a year and a half after his capture.<\/p>\n

“Do they want to degrade the Iraqi people? Or they want to provoke their feelings?” he added.<\/p>\n

But Miski, of Syrian descent, still said, “I was happy to see him like that.”<\/p>\n

“We are used to seeing photographs of Saddam looking grand and powerful, smoking a big cigar while his people were starving and suffering,” he told The Post.<\/p>\n

“Now it’s time for Saddam to start to suffer. Its time for him to go before a court and face the justice of his people.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I find it interesting that issues involving Saddam can be as divisive to the Arabs as they can be here on the home front.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saddam in his underwear. Chemical Ali in a bathrobe. Not appealing mental images, and certainly not pictures that should have reached publication. A British tabloid published more revealing photographs of Saddam Hussein in U.S. custody on Saturday, a day after it ran a front-page picture of the former Iraqi leader naked except for his underwear. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-middle-east","category-war-on-terror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}