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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Their faces covered in morticians' makeup, patches of hair sprouting from their scalps, two bodies were displayed to journalists Friday in a further attempt by American occupation authorities to convince skeptical Iraqis that Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay are really dead.
Meanwhile, the hunt for their father intensified, with the arrests of 13 men believed to include some of Hussein's bodyguards in a raid near the former leader's hometown, Tikrit, the U.S. Army announced Friday.
"We continue to tighten the noose," said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the Army's 4th Infantry Division.
Five to 10 of the people captured were believed to be members of Hussein's personal security detail, he said, adding that it was too early to tell if the guards had been with the deposed Iraqi leader recently or could help lead Americans to him.
American forces also have questioned one of Hussein's two wives, he said.
Odierno said that attacks had been cut in half in the past month because of incessant pressure by military patrols and the capture of 1,000 Baath Party loyalists, foreign fighters and other guerrilla fighters.
"We've taken out some of the midlevel leaders that helped to organize them locally," he said.
But Odierno warned of possible car bombings and suicide bombers, and said that while attacks were fewer in numbers, they were becoming more sophisticated.
Odierno said the attacks were organized locally, not nationally, and were the results of guerrilla groups that had specific hierarchies. "We do believe there's somewhat of an organization," he said. "There is a very local level where there's a guy who has money, there's somebody who's responsible for caching weapons, and there's a guy who pays individuals to do attacks on American soldiers."U.S. officials have expressed hope that the killings of Uday and Qusay would weaken the anti-American resistance and lead coalition forces to Hussein himself.
Arab satellite media and CNN broadcast images of the bodies throughout Iraq and the Arab world. The corpses appeared markedly changed from the autopsy-style photographs released a day earlier. The thick beards were now shaved and trimmed; their faces rebuilt and a gash gone from the face of the body identified as Uday.
The display appeared to be a calculated gamble by coalition authorities, who may have produced more convincing evidence but who also offended Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere by altering the bodies and delaying burial.
"Showing dead and deformed bodies on TV is not acceptable," protested Amer Ahmed al-Azawi, a 55-year-old Baghdad merchant. "But the Americans are criminals and unbelievers. We got rid of one tyrant, and we ended up with a bigger one."
Hamza Mansour, secretary-general of the Islamic Action Front in Jordan, said the display violated Islamic custom.
"The bodies of Uday and Qusay should have been washed, shrouded and buried immediately, but the Americans have no respect for our traditions and doctrine and they acted in a very unethical manner," he said.
U.S. officials say Uday, 39, and Qusay, 37, were killed Tuesday in a gunbattle with U.S. troops in Mosul.
While the graphic photographs released Thursday showed bruised and bloodied faces, the bodies that lay on gurneys in a tent at Baghdad International Airport resembled more closely the way Uday and Qusay looked in life.
The U.S. civilian administration in Baghdad called the showing unprecedented. It drew camera crews from Arab satellite broadcasters Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, as well as the coalition-linked Iraqi Media Network. An Associated Press reporter was at the viewing.
Both men's eyes were closed, lips pursed, almost tranquil, almost sleeping.
The rest of their bodies were a maze of bullet holes - more than 20 each - severe burns, black-and-blue bruises and scars from previous surgeries. Their chests had been opened, but sutured back in a neat, Y-shape. Their genitals were covered with blue surgical cloths. Inside the air-conditioned tent, the odor of embalming fluid was heady.
Doctors said Qusay had two bullet wounds to his head, but said those were likely from the barrage fired into the villa in Mosul, 240 miles north of the capital, Baghdad, not suicide.
Uday was killed when debris struck his head with extreme force, resulting in the gash, officials said. He had no bullet wounds to his head.
There was an incision on the left leg of the man said to be Uday where doctors removed a plate that had been inserted after a 1996 assassination attempt. The plate, still attached to the bone, lay wrapped in a plastic bag, sawed from the leg. The leg was limp, the foot at an odd angle.
Results of the DNA testing being done at a military lab in Washington could be available next week. A final report on the deaths is expected in about six weeks.
Doctors said the bodies would remain at the morgue, kept in refrigerated storage, until a family member claims them.
- Information from the New York Times and Washington Post was used in this report.