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Fate of Udai and Qusai still not settled: CPA
Baghdad, July 29: A week after Saddam Hussein`s sons were struck down in a blistering shoot out, the fate of the corpses of Udai and Qusai has still not been decided.
Baghdad, July 29: A week after Saddam Hussein's sons were struck down in a blistering shoot out, the fate of the corpses of Udai and Qusai has still not been decided.
"It's very complex. Cultural and religious issues
need to be resolved," a senior coalition official said
Tuesday on condition of anonymity,
The US-led coalition had said Sunday it would announce the burial plans within 24 hours, but later backtracked.
The coalition provisional authority has consulted Iraq's 25-member governing council as well as religious figures, as it seeks to handle the bodies with dignity, while also avoiding inspiring a cult of personality around Saddam's sons.
Udai and Qusai were killed in a four-hour showdown with US troops on July 22 in the northern city of Mosul.
Samir Shaker Mahmud al-Sumaydi, a member of the governing council, said Sunday the executive body had recommended the corpses be given to the family for burial.
He said he expected the coalition would follow the Iraqi body's recommendation.
A member of Saddam's family, Sheikh Mahmud al-Nada, head of the Bu Nasser tribe, told the Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera that he asked CPA for the body but had been turned down.
"I asked for family and religious reasons and not for political ones," the Sheikh said.
Bureau Report
The US-led coalition had said Sunday it would announce the burial plans within 24 hours, but later backtracked.
The coalition provisional authority has consulted Iraq's 25-member governing council as well as religious figures, as it seeks to handle the bodies with dignity, while also avoiding inspiring a cult of personality around Saddam's sons.
Udai and Qusai were killed in a four-hour showdown with US troops on July 22 in the northern city of Mosul.
Samir Shaker Mahmud al-Sumaydi, a member of the governing council, said Sunday the executive body had recommended the corpses be given to the family for burial.
He said he expected the coalition would follow the Iraqi body's recommendation.
A member of Saddam's family, Sheikh Mahmud al-Nada, head of the Bu Nasser tribe, told the Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera that he asked CPA for the body but had been turned down.
"I asked for family and religious reasons and not for political ones," the Sheikh said.
Bureau Report