Iraqis suspicious despite photos

By Magdi Abdelhadi
BBC Middle East analyst

American officials have released photographs they say are of the bodies of the sons of Saddam Hussein - Uday and Qusay - who were killed on Tuesday when American troops attacked their hideout in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The decision to make the pictures public underlines the deep-seated mistrust many Iraqis feel towards the Americans.

Images which the US says show Saddam Hussein's sons are dead. (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)

In pictures

So strong is the Iraqis' fear of Saddam Hussein that when the news was first released many could not believe that the Americans had actually killed his sons.

They wanted visible proof.

But their suspicion is not only part of the legacy of the past.

A lot of it has to do with their present situation and how the Iraqis view the Americans.

American motives

Many remain deeply suspicious of what the Americans are up to.

Failure to restore law and order and to repair basic services, particularly in Baghdad, are fuelling Iraqi anger and suspicion of the American-run administration.

Those who had great expectations of the Americans feel let down.

Iraqi attacks on US troops have continued

They simply cannot believe that the world's strongest army is unable to quash troublemakers and make ordinary Iraqis feel safe.

The publication of pictures showing the corpses of Uday and Qusay may go some way towards convincing the average Iraqi.

But there will always be those in Iraq, and the wider Arab world, who will remain deeply sceptical of whatever the Americans say or do.

They will say the pictures are a photo montage, or another American trick - as many have indeed said about the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York two years ago.

Some Arab commentators have already dismissed the killing of Qusay and Uday as a way of diverting the attention from America's failure to find the alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Many also believe that killing Uday and Qusay, or even Saddam Hussein himself, will not end what they describe as Iraqi resistance.