NBC Exclusive: New Saddam Capture Photos

[Robb]

Dictator Shown Posing With Soldiers

Exclusive new pictures showing the minutes and hours after Saddam Hussein's capture were released by NBC News.

Slideshow: NBC Photos Of Saddam's Capture

The pictures show Saddam pinned to the ground at gunpoint, being searched for weapons.

The photos were taken just moments after Saddam was pulled from his underground hideout.

Shortly after his capture, Saddam was taken to one of his former palaces that's now being used as a base of operation for the U.S. military.

[Snoopy2]

1. Isn't this against the Geneva Convention?

Now that Saddam is classified as a POW?

[Mistress Quickly]

2. He's classified an EPW

which, I think, changes the rules under the Geneva convention.

Convenient, huh?

[Snoopy2]

3. What's an EPW?

n/t

[Mistress Quickly]

4. All I can find

is this story:

http://www.suntimes.co.za/2004/01/11/news/world/world02.asp

Saddam given prisoner of war status

snip >> It was unclear what effect this would have on Saddam, who had already been accorded treatment due a prisoner of war under the Geneva Convention. <<

If any one else can help with the differences between an EPW and POW, it would be appreciated.



on edit: link to Geneva Convention Treaty:
http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm

[Robb]

5. Here's something

from NY Daily News:

U.S. calls Saddam an 'EPW' not POW

WASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein has been designated an EPW, not a POW, the Pentagon clarified yesterday.

The enemy prisoner of war designation, cited by Pentagon spokeswoman Megan Grafton, may be used by the feds to get around the prisoner of war protections the U.S. agreed to when it signed the 1948 Geneva Convention, a legal expert said.

"I've never heard the term EPW used," said Michael Noone, a retired Air Force JAG officer who teaches law at Catholic University. "It's certainly not in the Geneva Conventions."

He said the Defense Department "might be using the EPW designation to justify some sort of interrogation," which is being handled by the CIA.

[Mistress Quickly]

6. ruh roh n/t

[bearfan454]

9. Gee, do you think the CIA put his

balls in vise grips yet and told him to sign the paper they already had typed up ?

[jmowreader]

19. EPW and POW are Military Intelligence and Military Police terms

If we capture their people and hold them prisoner, they are EPW.

If the enemy captures our people and holds them prisoner, they are POW.

But because both of them are prisoners of war, they are accorded the exact same protections under the Geneva and Hague Conventions.

Of course Saddam is an EPW. He's The Enemy and he's a prisoner of war, so obviously he's an EPW. But that doesn't mean we get to send him to Egypt for some of that extra special interrogation they do there.

[mobuto]

11. Distinction without a difference

An EPW is an enemy Prisoner of War. There is no difference that I can tell between the DoD's term "EPW", and a POW as defined in the Geneva Convention for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (1949).

Here's a handy chart of the Former:

https:// hosta.atsc.eustis.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/accp/mp1032/mp1032c0001.gif

On edit: to view the chart, copy and paste the link, deleting the space after the //

[Robb]

7. May be nothing to "EPW"

Read around a bit, EPW is a purely American construct, seems to just be another way to say POW. Should have no difference in how the US interprets the Geneva Conventions.

A guy over on FR said it best (*cough*...did I just type that?!?) I think, our guys are POWs, theirs are EPWs. :shrug:

[underpants]

8. Breaking!!! SADDAM STILL CAPTURED!!!!!!!!!!!!

And we have stills to prove it!

[Mistress Quickly]

10. Hey wash those things

if you're gonna bring 'em in here!

:P

[bigwillq]

12. Saw it last night

Great shots, Very interesting images. We got more proof of how much of a coward he is.

[Cooley Hurd]

14. You'd be cowardly too if you were as doped up as he is...

Not to mention being surrounded by a bunch of burly guys with rifles.

BTW - The whole "cowardly Saddam" thing is another pile of propaganda put out by the LIARS in the White House. You should read Ted Kennedy's speech from yesterday. He, like the rest of us, knows what a bunch of pathological liars those in the Bush administration are...

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[jayfish]

15. Ya, He Was A Real Coward.

Even though his army didn't, he stood firm against the most powerful nation on the planet and stayed in his own country even as the onslaught ensued. He greeted his subjects (staged or not) as his capitol city burned in the background. A despicable dictator and destroyer of human life and liberty? Absolutely. A coward? I don't think so. BTW since we are on the subject of bravery, when does your unit ship out again?

Jay

[NeoConsSuck]

21. bigwillq, you don't need to demonize SH

The man is already a demon.

But as long as you brought up the topic of cowardice, let's talk about your "commander-in-chief". Where was Bush on 9/11? I'll tell you where: He was wetting his pants the entire day up on Air Force One, leaving the rest of America to fend for themselves on the ground. Not too brave in my book.

Edited for grammar

[DUreader]

13. Photos deliberately low res? Are those Kurdish Troops?

can't tell much from the photos

[Greyskye]

16. Link to hi-res photos here

This is from a link on the General Discussion board:

http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/stu/slimowsk/saddam/

[grasswire]

18. hmmmm

....the link to the SUNY pics is now dead. It was up yesterday. They were very high resolution.

[qanda]

23. Did anyone copy the high resolution photos?

If so, can you post them here. I, too, was wondering if some of those men were Kurdish.

[maggrwaggr]

25. Yes. Here are the originals

http://absent.org/~jgw/pictures/unusual/2003-saddam-capture/index.html

Also Snopes has the undoctored one that we first saw, without the soldier's face blurred out:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/saddam.asp

[qanda]

28. Thanks much!

eom

[DoNotRefill]

17. Hmmm....

I've had these photos for several weeks...

I wonder what the delay getting them out was?

[jmowreader]

20. Chimpy must have done something outrageous

You know they've got a skid of photos of Saddam's capture, his interrogation, and so on. From now on, whenever Chimpy fucks up, they will not report it. Instead, they will pull out a picture of Saddam in US custody and remind America Why We Are At War.

And when Chimpy's approval rating drops, they will pull out a photo of Saddam's capture.

Photos of Saddam's capture are even better than 9/11 as a distractor! But if it's really not working, they can always fire up their copy of Photoshop and ghost Saddam onto the Twin Towers. That'll work! Linking Saddam to 9/11 kept Dumbass out of trouble for so long, they're sure to return to it.

[jmowreader]

27. Now I know what the outrageous thing was...

It was the recess appointment of Charles Pickering.

Bush installs the racist Pickering until the end of this Senate, and on Martin Luther King weekend to boot. How does the liberal press respond? "Oh look! We got Saddam! Everything's just peachy!"

[BigBigBear]

22. Just a gentle reminder

from your friendly, administration-compliant media ballerinas.

There IS an election coming up, y'know.

[DoNotRefill]

26. My understanding...

is that these aren't photos released by the government, they're private photos taken by a GI, and sent back to the States.

That's how I got copies...he sent them to a mutual friend. When I got them, there was a caveat that they weren't for public release. Sounds like somebody leaked them, and he's gonna be pissed.

[ignatius]

24. Good grief, isn't there any news on Michael or Britanny to occupy the

enquiring minds?

You vill see these picturz and you vill vorship me.