[Marxism] Oops!

[davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

[Gee...what was the little display back in 2003 all about? Not that this will 
do a thing
to diminish the offensive]


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4565505.stm


Saddam underwear photo angers US

The US military says it is investigating "aggressively" after a picture 
appeared in a
British paper showing Saddam Hussein half naked.
The Sun newspaper's front page image showed the former Iraqi president in a 
pair of white
underpants.
Other pictures showed Saddam Hussein washing his trousers, shuffling around and
sleeping.
The US said the photos appeared to breach Geneva Convention rules on the humane
treatment of prisoners of war.
The conventions say countries must protect prisoners of war in their custody 
from "public
curiosity".
'Destroy the myth'
The Sun cited US military sources saying they handed over the pictures showing 
Saddam as
"an ageing and humble old man" in the hope of dealing a blow to the resistance 
in Iraq.
"It's important that the people of Iraq see him like that to destroy the myth," 
the paper's
source was quoted as saying.
However, a spokesman for the multinational forces in Baghdad, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Steven
Boylan, insisted "they were not released by the US military. So the claims in 
the Sun... are
not correct".

A statement from the US-led force said it was "disappointed at the possibility 
that someone
responsible for the security, welfare, and detention of Saddam would take and 
provide these
photos for public release".
The statement added: "This lapse is being aggressively investigated to 
determine, if
possible, who took the photos, and to ensure existing procedures and directives 
are complied
with to prevent this from happening again."
Col Boylan said: "As far as any breaches of the Geneva Convention, that's 
something we are
looking into. We did not officially release those photos, and so there's a 
question on whether
it is actually a breach or not."
The Sun refused to say how it got hold of the pictures, or when they were 
taken, insisting it
needed to protect its sources.
It defended its decision to publish them.
"We thought long and hard about publishing, and took the decision that they're 
such
incredible pictures of the world's most brutal dictator... they were a 
compelling image that
any newspaper or broadcaster would publish," the paper's managing editor, Graham
Dudman, told the BBC News website.
Pink chair
Saddam Hussein is awaiting trial on numerous charges in Iraq, including 
murdering rivals,
gassing Iraqi Kurds and using violence to suppress uprisings.
It is not clear when he will go on trial.
{PRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=US soldier taking Saddam Hussein from his hiding place 
in ad-Dawr, 13 December, 2003"}
Saddam had a beard when he was
caught near his hometown of Tikrit

The US said the pictures might be more than a year old.
They show Saddam with a moustache, rather than the beard he sported when he was
captured in December 2003, and again when he appeared in court last July.
The Sun said the former Iraqi leader, 68, was allowed black hair dye to 
disguise his grey
hair.
The paper said Saddam Hussein is kept in a 12ft by 9ft (4m x 3m) cell 
"somewhere near
Baghdad", that he has a desk and a pink plastic chair "which he tends to use as 
a bedside
table".
He is watched round the clock through CCTV cameras, even when he goes to the 
toilet, the
paper said.
The source added that Saddam was one of the best behaved prisoners the US had 
had, it
said.



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