Sun under fire over Saddam pics

[RogueTrooper]

The US military has condemned the Sun for publishing photographs of a captive Saddam Hussein and said it was "aggressively" investigating who took them.

Today's paper carries a series of photographs showing the former Iraqi dictator in his cell, including one on the front page showing him in his underwear. Another shows him washing clothes under the headline "Tyrant? He's washed up".

The Sun says it obtained the photos from "US military sources" who handed them over "in the hope of dealing a body blow to the resistance in Iraq".

"Saddam is not superman or God, he is now just an ageing and humble old man," the paper quotes its source as saying. "It's important that the people of Iraq see him like that to destroy the myth."

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1488532,00.html

[Alpharetta]

1. Another violation of the Geneva convention

Photographing prisoners in degrading positions is specifically prohibited.

[neweurope]

3. Yes. Goes to show that they WANT to violate the Geneva

convention and WANT the world to know it. It can't be that hard to pin up a copy of the convention somewhere and tell soldiers to go by it or else...


----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Guy_Montag]

2. BBC reporting that the American forces are livid that this got out

but they always claim righteous indignation.

[Vladimir]

4. If these idiots still think the resistance are Saddam loyalists

they really are living in some sort of parallel universe.

[benburch]

6. That is indeed the root of our problem!

The inability to accept data from the real world that differs from Administration ideology.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Maybe not Saddam worshippers

but Juan Cole, whose opinion is worth considering, thinks that Baath party members dominate the insurgents:

Thanassis Cambanis of the Boston Globe absolutely nails it:

Sadiq al-Mossawi -- a secular politician not tied to the Ba'athists who tried unsuccessfully to persuade resistance groups to band together under a restored monarchy -- said that Ba'athists who are committed to the old party ideology now dominate the insurgency. Ba'athists have money they sequestered before Hussein fled and can draw on legions of former intelligence and military officers with tactical expertise, as well as immense weapons caches . . . Five US Embassy officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have expressed doubt that any single political group such as the former Ba'athists has widespread influence over an insurgency they describe as fractious. But the Iraqi politicians and officials who have met with Ba'athists and have seen captured documents said that such a view misses the mark. These people say that although the Ba'athists aren't united, they share fundamental political goals and beliefs and have decades of experience working together, despite internal disputes. Rival branches of the Ba'ath Party have met to elect clandestine command structures. The political group met in Baqubah in June 2004, according to Mossawi. A more militant, pro-Syrian group met in October 2004 in the Syrian town of Hasaka, according to a Kurdish official who cited informant reports. Thataccount was confirmed by a senior US official . . . Fighters and documents captured in Fallujah last November showed that Ba'athists and former officers with Hussein's intelligence agency, the Mukhabarat, ran many insurgent cells . . .

Give that man a prize. This is what is really going on in Iraq. The neo-Baath is setting things up for a comeback and the Third Coup. That is why the recent operation at Qaim and Ubaidi will have very little effect on the guerrilla war. The foreign jihadis are just being used as the equivalent of canon fodder (see the report on the Saudi volunteers, below.)

By the way, Baathists can be suicide bombers, too. The technique of suicide bombing was pioneered by the secular, Marxist Tamil Tigers, who used it to assassinate Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. It just is not true that one has to be religious to use it. Secular people give their lives for causes dear to them all the time. Hell, the entire Soviet Army was full of atheists and they died in large numbers in World War II.

http://www.juancole.com/2005/05/over-30-bodies-found-usa-today-ap.html

[Vladimir]

8. Yes but even if that is true,

and I am not convinced that anyone has a very clear picture of the insurgency at this point in time, I would bet my bottom dollar that these people don't care if Saddam is pictured in underpants or what-have-you. To my mind, its just another example of trying to discredit the insurgency by portraying it as the remamnt of the Saddam regime. Even if the cells are run by former Ba'athists, Sistani and al-Sadr are certainly not looking for some sort of return to the Saddam days, and I doubt the insurgency will ever win an endgame without their support.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Agreed the pictures will make little difference

They may piss off some people, but I think they already have more serious complaints than disrepecting Saddam. I think it is likely the Baathists are major players in the insurgency, because they would have had most access to explosives and the larger weapons like RPGs. I also agree with you that they wouldn't gain full control over the country by going back to total Baath party rule - other factions like al-Sadr can now organise resistance without getting massacred at once, so they would become a large insurgency if they thought Shiites were getting oppressed. I think they are currently waiting to see if the interim government ends up as American lackies, or if they can get out from under their thumb.

[orpupilofnature57]

5. Maybe they should stop trying to make Shrub look like, SGT. York

[AmericanErrorist]

10. The past few days, the Sun's Page 3 girl

was actually a Front Page man.

[fedsron2us]

11. What next Saddam on Celebrity Love Island

ITV desperately need the ratings boost.