IRAQ

Counterpunch: The Ghosts of Uday and Qusay by Robert Fisk
Still Haunting US Troops

The Americans have stripped the Iraqi flags from the graves of Uday and Qusay Hussein. The red, white and black banners were laid on the mounds of clay above their bodies at their funeral on Saturday, alongside the grave of Mustafa Hussein, Qusay's 14-year-old son, who also died when 200 American troops attacked the Mosul villa in which they were hiding two weeks ago. But the Americans have allowed only the child's remains to be honoured with his country's flag. Uday and Qusay have no memorial save for the footprints of US Army boots.

Even 34-year-old Felah Shemari who dug the graves was shocked, and he has no reason to love the brothers; he spent 10 years in prison on the orders of Saddam's half-brother for a murder he says he did not commit.

"When we dug the graves, we were told they were just for the brothers," he says. "But when the two ambulances arrived escorted by American Humvees, they took young Mustafa's body out of the second ambulance and we had to dig another grave in a hurry. Of course, we put our Iraqi flags over all three. This is a sign that they were martyred." But the Americans thought differently.