The U.S. military used visual identification to confirm that the sons of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein were killed in a raid Tuesday, but forensic experts say the final verdict would come from DNA tests.
THE U.S. CENTRAL Command was “certain” that Odai and Qusai Hussein, Saddam’s sons and the No. 2 and No. 3 men on the United States’ most-wanted list in Iraq, died in Tuesday’s six-hour firefight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told reporters in Baghdad.
“The bodies were in such a condition where you could identify them,” Sanchez said.
The bodies were flown by helicopter to Baghdad International Airport and identified by senior Iraqi detainees familiar with Saddam’s sons, sources told NBC News on condition of anonymity. One senior U.S. official said the identification of Odai’s body was confirmed by physical evidence, including a bullet wound to his left leg that was suffered in a 1996 assassination attempt.
Two other bodies were recovered after the battle, including a person who may have been a bodyguard and perhaps Qusai’s 14-year-old son, Mustapha, the sources told NBC.
Samples were taken from the bodies for DNA testing after they were flown from Mosul, the Associated Press quoted unidentified officials as saying. DNA from the victims could be matched with samples from other members of Saddam’s family. Military spokesmen have hinted that U.S. officials possess a reference sample of Saddam’s DNA.
THE TESTING PROCESS
If the process of sample collection and testing followed the typical scenario, the samples would be collected quickly but carefully, said Victor Weedn, who helped develop the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in 1990 and is now director of biotechnology and health initiatives at Carnegie Mellon University.
It’s possible to do quick genetic testing on the scene, using portable equipment adapted for forensic purposes, he said. But he also speculated that samples would be flown to Rockville, Md., for more extensive testing at his former laboratory.
He stressed that he had no inside knowledge about the handling of samples from Saddam’s sons, but said “it would seem to me that you would most want to do the testing in a pristine environment, with people who are used to doing it with the instruments on hand.”
There have been several false alarms on the demise of Saddam and/or his sons, so by now the military likely has been well-trained in how to handle samples for DNA testing.
“The tissues have to be adequately documented and preserved,” Weedn said. “It’s difficult to do in a war scenario, but because of the early questions on the ID of Saddam, I imagine that the military has increased their awareness of these as issues. We are told that there are forensic guys in country to help with these issues.”
Source:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/942477.asp
THE U.S. CENTRAL Command was “certain” that Odai and Qusai Hussein, Saddam’s sons and the No. 2 and No. 3 men on the United States’ most-wanted list in Iraq, died in Tuesday’s six-hour firefight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez told reporters in Baghdad.
“The bodies were in such a condition where you could identify them,” Sanchez said.
The bodies were flown by helicopter to Baghdad International Airport and identified by senior Iraqi detainees familiar with Saddam’s sons, sources told NBC News on condition of anonymity. One senior U.S. official said the identification of Odai’s body was confirmed by physical evidence, including a bullet wound to his left leg that was suffered in a 1996 assassination attempt.
Two other bodies were recovered after the battle, including a person who may have been a bodyguard and perhaps Qusai’s 14-year-old son, Mustapha, the sources told NBC.
Samples were taken from the bodies for DNA testing after they were flown from Mosul, the Associated Press quoted unidentified officials as saying. DNA from the victims could be matched with samples from other members of Saddam’s family. Military spokesmen have hinted that U.S. officials possess a reference sample of Saddam’s DNA.
THE TESTING PROCESS
If the process of sample collection and testing followed the typical scenario, the samples would be collected quickly but carefully, said Victor Weedn, who helped develop the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in 1990 and is now director of biotechnology and health initiatives at Carnegie Mellon University.
It’s possible to do quick genetic testing on the scene, using portable equipment adapted for forensic purposes, he said. But he also speculated that samples would be flown to Rockville, Md., for more extensive testing at his former laboratory.
He stressed that he had no inside knowledge about the handling of samples from Saddam’s sons, but said “it would seem to me that you would most want to do the testing in a pristine environment, with people who are used to doing it with the instruments on hand.”
There have been several false alarms on the demise of Saddam and/or his sons, so by now the military likely has been well-trained in how to handle samples for DNA testing.
“The tissues have to be adequately documented and preserved,” Weedn said. “It’s difficult to do in a war scenario, but because of the early questions on the ID of Saddam, I imagine that the military has increased their awareness of these as issues. We are told that there are forensic guys in country to help with these issues.”
Source:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/942477.asp