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Blowback:
Saddam’s DNA – Will this image "haunt the future"? It haunts me. In
the media-giddy hours after the announcement of Saddam Hussein's
capture in December 2003, the U.S. military provided conflicting
explanations about what is happening here. An early account said
the medic in latex gloves was collecting a DNA sample from inside
Saddam's cheek. Later accounts said it was a routine medical exam,
implying humanitarian concern for the prisoner's well-being. In
either case, publicizing the image violated the Geneva Convention
about depicting the vulnerability of prisoners of war. But then,
in the Global War on Terror (GWOT), there are prisoners of war;
there are enemy combatants; and there is Saddam Hussein.
It's
hard to swallow the notion that this image represents a concern
for Saddam's dental carries. On the day of his capture all of
us were fascinated to see the visible signs of this pompous tyrant's
downfall. He looked like he'd been living under a bridge. Given
a poncho and bandana, he could have been one of those homeless
vets you meet at the Vietnam War Memorial. Had he been vaporized
by a bunker-buster bomb during the "Shock and Awe" phase
of "major combat operations," a valuable PR opportunity
would have been lost. We needed graphic images of Saddam the Loser
to help us forget the embarrassing images of Saddam, Our Geopolitical
Buddy. See the famous photo (below left) of Donald Rumsfeld pressing
the tyrant's flesh during the Reagan era. Talk about blowback…
But wait -- he's back! See the recent photo of Saddam the Defiant
(below right) at his war crimes trial in Baghdad. Even if we've
got his DNA, we haven't heard the last of him yet.
What
this image says about power and powerlessness is clear enough.
The fact that a tyrant like Saddam Hussein is subjected to this
tends to justify any abuse of power. If Saddam doesn't deserve
it, who does? When you look at the image, do you imagine your
mouth convulsing in a gag reflex? Or is it your hands in the latex
gloves?
What
haunts me is the ambiguity of this image's subtext about DNA.
It seems to say: We will find you, even if you are Saddam Hussein,
even if you have seven palaces and seventy bunkers and ten look-alike
flunkies to throw us off the trail. We'll find you in the DNA.
Look again and the subtext changes: This is simply a matter
of protecting public health. In the name of fighting the GWOT,
it could be your DNA or mine. How can we object? What do we have
to hide?
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