WASHINGTON - The US military opened an investigation Friday into the publication of photographs showing deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in his underwear while in US military custody, US defense officials said. But President George W. Bush played down fears of a violent backlash.
"I don't think a photo inspires murders," Bush told reporters at the White House.
"I think they (insurgents) are inspired by an ideology that is so barbaric and backwards that it's hard for many in the Western world to comprehend how they think," he said.
Splashed on the front page of the British tabloid The Sun and the New York Post, the photographs were believed to have been taken over a year ago, said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.
"This is clearly something we wouldn't condone, or would sanction, and it is troubling that images like this could make their way to the public when they shouldn't," he said. "That's why they are looking at it."
The US-led command in Iraq ordered an investigation into what it said was an unauthorized release of the photographs in violation of US policy and, possibly, Geneva Convention guidelines on the treatment of prisoners.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was informed of the investigation, said Lawrence DiRita, the Pentagon's chief spokesman.
"The president wants to get to the bottom of the investigation. It would be premature to make any sort of suggestions or speculation about the source or the motivation," said Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman.
The photograph given most prominent play by the newspaper is a frontal shot of Saddam, standing bare-chested and in white underwear as he folds a pair of pants.
"The photos give you an indication of his condition and how he was being held, and from that they have been able to determine that they believe the photographs were taken some time ago -- over a year ago," Whitman said.
By establishing when and how the pictures were taken, investigators hope to determine who had access to Saddam, he said.
He said it was unclear whether the pictures were taken with a still camera or were images from a surveillance video.
If the photos are over a year old, it would mean they were taken at a time when the United States had exclusive custody of Saddam. Iraq gained legal custody of Saddam after it regained sovereignty last year, but he remains under US military control.
"You have to look at the timeframe, which we are trying to establish," Whitman said. "But the Geneva Convention is clear about not holding detainees, EPWs (enemy prisoners of war) up to public curiosity," Whitman said.
In an article accompanied by other intimate photographs of Saddam, the Sun quoted US military sources as saying they handed over the photos in hopes of dealing a blow to the resistance in Iraq.
"Saddam is not Superman or God; he is now just an aging and humble old man. It's important that the people of Iraq see him like that to destroy the myth," one source was quoted as saying.
"Maybe that will kill a bit of the passion in the fanatics who still follow him," the source said. "It's over, guys. The evil days of Saddam's Baath Party are never coming back -- and here's the proof."
Asked whether the photographs may have been deliberately released to undermine the resistance, Whitman said: "I can't rule out anything, but I can tell you that it is our policy not to release images of detainees in contravention of what we call 'holding up for public curiosity.'"
The US military, however, did release video images of a dissheveled Saddam immediately after his capture in December 2003. Among the images was one of a soldier picking through his hair for lice and shining a penlight into his mouth.
At the time, the Pentagon said it had weighed Geneva Convention rules against holding a prisoner up to public curiosity against the public's interest in seeing that he had been captured.
The issue also arose after the deaths of Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay in a shootout in Mosul in July 2003.
To convince skeptical Iraqis that the two had been killed, the US military first released photographs showing their faces and mangled torsos after they had undergone "facial reconstruction" to make them recognizable.
Independent journalists, photographers and cameramen were later allowed to view the bodies in a morgue at the Baghdad airport.

05/20/2005 17:22 GMT