September 28 2002

Is he for real? ... one of the Saddam Hussein shots

Saddam Hussein is back after an absence of four years. A scientific study of 450 photographs of him has concluded that the Iraqi President has used at least three body doubles to make public appearances on his behalf since 1998.

The German television network ZDF, working with a German coroner, took archival photographs and film clips of the leader and used facial recognition technology to determine whether the men said to be him were lookalikes.

"In the film sequences since 1998 only the doubles appear," said Dieter Buhmann, a Hamburg coroner. "He himself has not been seen again."

But ZDF said that the original Saddam reappeared on Iraq television last Saturday. It also quoted what it said was a former Iraqi intelligence official describing how he had recruited doubles for Saddam.

"It was a practice started for security reasons because Saddam travelled a lot at the time and had contact with the public," said the former intelligence official, now a member of the opposition living abroad.
 

ZDF said in its program and on its Web site www.heute.t-online.de, that "a scientific investigation proved the 65-year-old ruler allows at least three doubles to replace him at official appearances".

ZDF said it was difficult to tell which were the doubles and which was the real Saddam.

Minor details, such as the size of the ears, hands and shape of the shoulders, gave the lookalikes away, it said.

"They have apparently undergone surgery to appear to look like the statesman," ZDF said.

"The doubles have mastered Saddam's gestures and perfectly mimic Saddam, with only tiny details separating them from the real Saddam Hussein."

Agencies