US releases pictures showing Saddam in disguise

US Central Command on Friday released five digitally enhanced pictures of Saddam Hussein showing what the deposed Iraqi president might look like if he was trying to change his appearance.

The pictures, distributed to troops searching for him in Iraq, show the normally mustachioed Saddam clean shaven or with a beard, and also show him with white and gray hair rather than his usual dark hair. One shows him in a traditional Arab headdress.

Lieutenant Ryan Fitzgerald, a spokesman at Central Command headquarters in Florida, said US troops in Iraq were given the five altered images on Thursday to help them recognise Saddam in the event he has changed his appearance to elude capture.

Fitzgerald said the use of pictures of what a suspect might look like in disguise is a standard investigative technique.

"But it also became more clear after Uday and Qusay's bodies were discovered, that sure enough they had been trying to alter their appearances through growing different beards and so on. It became apparent that if they were doing that, Saddam Hussein may well be doing that as well," Fitzgerald said.

Uday and Qusay Hussein, Saddam's formerly powerful sons, were killed by US troops in a raid on July 22.

Units hunting Saddam, including the secretive Task Force 20 leading the search, have been given the digitally enhanced pictures, according to a military spokesman in Iraq.

"The photos have been distributed to units and commanders who are actively involved in the search. The main purpose of the photos is to ensure the soldiers have an idea of what Saddam may look like," Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Gainer said.

The CIA separately has created other images depicting what Saddam might look like after three months on the run, a US official said on condition of anonymity.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq