May 20, 2005

FOXNews.com - Politics - U.S. Investigates Source of Saddam Photos

President Bush and the U.S. military on Friday condemned the publication of photographs of a near-naked Saddam Hussein in prison and said an investigation had been started to find who took and released the photos.

A front-page picture in the British tabloid The Sun showed the former Iraqi dictator, clad only in white briefs, folding a pair of trousers. Another on an inside page showed Saddam hand-washing a piece of clothing.
[Hahahaha-- I love it!--Jen]

The Sun said it obtained the photos from "U.S. military sources." In the United States, the New York Post ran a story,reprinted the photos and used the same image on its front page...
[...]
Bush was briefed by senior aides Friday morning about the photos' existence, and "strongly supports the aggressive and thorough investigation that is already under way" that seeks to find who took them, White House press spokesman Trent Duffy said.

The White House declined to say what decisions news organizations should make about disseminating the photos. "That's your job," he said.
[President Bush is so precious!
No WH censorship to be found here.]

With the inquiry ongoing, he also would not comment on how the pictures may affect the U.S. image abroad. But the president downplayed the importance of the photos in stirring up the Iraqi insurgency.

"I think the insurgency is inspired by their desire to stop the march of freedom," Bush said.
[...]
Bush said he did not think photos of would incite further anti-American sentiment in Iraq. "I don't think a photo inspires murderers," the president said.

"These people are motivated by a vision of the world that is backward and barbaric," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office where he met with the prime minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

As ever, the President is right and the Leftist shills of the MSM who worry about "further inflaming the Arab street" are wrong.
I can't guess who in the military leaked these or why, but it's gotta be a sight for sore Iraqi eyes to see the formerly awesome and terrifying Butcher of Baghdad in his skivvies in prison, powerless and broken as so many of their family and friends were under Saddam.
I don't think Saddam Hussein's trial and execution can come soon enough for almost all of us.
This is a textbook illustration for Democracy 101, showing what happens to tyrants under a democratic government where the rule of law and a system of modern justice are the order of the day.
Betcha thug dictators all over the world had to change their underwear when they saw these pix!


Here's some upset Iraqis ready to wage jihad over Saddam in his Jockies:
Hamza Adnan, 8, Jinan Jassim, Ayah Faiz, 5, and Duha Munaf, 16, from left, watch Dubai-based satellite television station al-Arabiya in a house in the Karada area of Baghdad, Friday May 20, 2005, as it broadcasts Friday's front page of Britain's mass circulation tabloid newspaper, the Sun, showing Saddam Hussein standing in his white underwear while folding what appears to be a brown pair of trousers.