Web site depicts Saddam's capture

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LONDON -- A Web site catering to active and retired U.S. military personnel has published a picture apparently showing Saddam Hussein at the moment he was dragged out of his below-ground hiding place Dec. 14 in Iraq.

The photo, which military authorities believe to be genuine, could help to puncture conspiracy theories in the Arab world questioning the U.S. account of Saddam's capture.

The Web site that published the photo (www.military.com) says it has 3 million registered users, most of them active and retired military personnel.

The photo appears to be a "souvenir" photo shot by one of the soldiers present during the capture, but the company running the Web site, Military Advantage, could not confirm it.

Spokesman Pete DeLauzon said that the photo was provided "by an intermediary, not by the person who took the photo."

"We would not have put the photo on the site if we believed it was not genuine. We think it is but we cannot prove it."

Marine Maj. Peter Mitchell, a spokesman at U.S. Central Command's MacDill Air Force Base headquarters, disavowed any official connection with the photo but said he was unaware of any regulation that would bar a soldier from taking and keeping such a picture.

"I am not contesting that the photo is genuine. It looks like a legitimate photo, though there is a remote possibility it's not authentic," he said.

The face of a soldier has been electronically blotted out to avoid identification -- something Mr. DeLauzon said was done before the Web site received the picture. "We published it exactly as we got it."

"The photo was e-mailed to an intermediary from someone within the Special Forces community, just prior to New Year's weekend," Mr. DeLauzon said.

He said the intermediary believes there may have been other photos taken at the same time.

In London, a Arab newspaper editor, Adel Bari Atwan, condemned the photo's release.

"Assuming it is genuine, it's deeply humiliating to show Saddam in this way, and will lead to a bad anti-American reaction in the Arab street," he told Independent Television.

Maj. Mitchell said the military strongly objected to any impression created by the photo that the arrest of Saddam was being exploited as a form of trophy-hunting.