U.S. denounces photos of Saddam
WASHINGTON – White House and Pentagon officials condemned the release of candid photographs of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein while in U.S. military custody, launching an investigation Friday after a British tabloid published on its front page a picture of the deposed leader in his underwear.
The Sun newspaper in London ran three pages of photos Friday, including the full-color front-page photograph of a shirtless Saddam in white briefs. In other photos, Saddam is shown washing his socks and napping at an unidentified detention facility, which is reportedly near Baghdad International Airport. The New York Post, owned by the same publishing company, also ran the photographs Friday.
“It’s troubling and unfortunate that these pictures were made public, and it’s certainly contrary to what our policies and procedures are,” said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. “That’s why we’re taking a hard look at what happened, and we’ll look to hold someone accountable.”
The international publication of the photographs comes at a particularly sensitive time for the U.S. government abroad. Violent protests raged in several Muslim countries in the past week after a Newsweek article – since retracted by the magazine – said military officials had confirmed allegations that U.S. interrogators had desecrated the Quran at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba. And for the past year the Bush administration has confronted anger and suspicion created by release of photographs showing humiliation and abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and by subsequent allegations of prisoner mistreatment.
Saddam’s defense team expressed outrage over the photographs.
Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy in Washington, said Friday that the mere appearance of Saddam in his underwear may be an affront to many Muslims who believe that the body is sacred.
“To show someone partially or almost naked is a kind of insult to Muslim sensibilities,” Masmoudi said. “Arabs will feel it is an insult, ihana in Arabic, which means degrading, to all Arabs. Why are they treating him this way?”
The Sun said that it had obtained the photographs from an unnamed member of the U.S. military who was quoted as saying that the photographs were intended to show insurgents that he is no longer a legendary dictator and is instead “just an aging and humble old man.”
Masmoudi said that because much of the insurgency in Iraq is made up of Baathists and former members of Saddam’s government, the photos of their leader in a humiliating scene could encourage their attacks against Americans and the Iraqis working with them.
President Bush told reporters Friday that he does not think the release of the photographs specifically will incite insurgents to action. “I don’t think a photo inspires murderers,” he said. “I think they are inspired by an ideology.”
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Bush “strongly supports the aggressive and thorough investigation that is already under way.”
“These photos were wrong,” Duffy said. “They’re in clear violation of DOD directives and possibly Geneva Convention guidelines for the human treatment of detained individuals. And the multinational forces in Iraq, as well as the president, are very disappointed at the possibility that someone responsible for the security, welfare and detention of Saddam Hussein would take and provide these photos for public release.”
The Geneva Conventions seek to maintain dignity for prisoners of war by barring captors from exposing them to public curiosity. Pentagon officials said they no longer consider the former leader an enemy prisoner of war because he is technically in Iraqi custody, but they said the release of the photographs violated Defense Department standards in any case.
Saddam and top figures of his government have been charged with crimes against humanity and are being held at an undisclosed location, believed to be a high-security U.S.-run facility near Baghdad’s airport. Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has said he expects an Iraqi tribunal to try Saddam within the year.