U.S. Frowns On Saddam Skivvy Pix

British, U.S. Papers Publish Photos Of Imprisoned Hussein

(CBS/AP)  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.

The International Committee for the Red Cross, which monitors conditions of prisoners of war and detainees, said the photographs violated Saddam's right to privacy.

"Taking and using photographs of him is clearly forbidden," ICRC Middle East spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas said. U.S. forces are obliged to "preserve the privacy of the detainee."

Aside from U.S. soldiers, the only others with access to Saddam are his legal team, prosecuting judge Raed Johyee and the ICRC.

In Baghdad coffee shops and elsewhere across this deeply conservative country, Iraqis watched as some Arab satellite networks — including Al-Arabiya — showed the front page of The Sun, with its picture of Saddam standing in his underwear. Other published photos show him clothed and seated on a chair doing some washing, sleeping and walking in what is described as his prison yard.

"This is an insult to show the former president in such a condition. Saddam is from the past now, so what is the reason for this? It is bad work from the media. Do they want to degrade the Iraqi people? Or they want to provoke their feelings," said Baghdad businessman Abu Barick.

Others were not so kind.

"Saddam Hussein and his regime were bloody and practiced mass killing against the people, therefore, whatever happens to Saddam, whether he is photographed naked or washing his clothes, it means nothing to me. That's the least he deserves," said Hawre Saliee, a 38-year-old Kurd.

The photos did not provoke much of an outcry across the Middle East on Friday, when businesses are shut and people take the day off and try to avoid the news.

But those who did notice expressed strong opinions when questioned.

In Dubai, Sabine Hajj, a 25-year-old Lebanese, said the pictures were "shameful and controversial. It's an insult to human beings, regardless of who he is or what he did. This is a breach of privacy."

Rawad Nasr, a 30-year-old Jordanian salesman, said the pictures were "shocking."

"Regardless of what he did, they shouldn't have been published. This is an insult to humanity, and whoever published them must be prosecuted," Nasr said.

In Bahrain, Ali Yousef, 21, said he "cracked up" when he saw the pictures.

"I don't care about Saddam, he was a ruthless dictator and he deserves worse," Yousef said.

Muhammed al-Sabah, Kuwait's foreign minister, said he had no sympathy for the man who invaded his country in 1991.

"What happened to him on this earth is really of minor consequences. I certainly believe in my heart of hearts that he's going to go to hell," al-Sabah told CNN. "He is a villain."

Since his capture in December 2003, Saddam has been held in a complex near Baghdad airport named Camp Cropper, which holds 110 high-profile detainees. Saddam could go on trial by the end of the year for charges that include killing rival politicians during his 30-year rule, gassing Kurds, invading Kuwait and suppressing Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1991.

It is not the first time there has been an outcry over images of Saddam.

Pictures and video images of Saddam being examined by a medic after his arrest were widely criticized. A Vatican cardinal said American forces treated the captive Iraqi leader "like a cow."

Although Arab television networks broadcast the pictures of naked or semi-clothed prisoners being abused by American forces at Abu Ghraib, at least one — Al-Jazeera — chose not to air the Saddam photos.

Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout said the network didn't show them for ethical and professional reasons. "The photo is demeaning to Iraqis," he said, adding: "from a professional side, it is not news."

"There is a big difference, because the pictures were the news in Abu Ghraib," he said.

Dudman, The Sun's managing editor, defended the decision to print the pictures.

"They are a fantastic, iconic set of news pictures that I defy any newspaper, magazine, or television station who were presented with them not to have published," he said. "He's not been mistreated. He's washing his trousers. This is the modern-day Adolf Hitler. Please don't ask us to feel sorry for him."