Making history, instantly
Images of Hussein leave an indelible impression
There have been several dramatic and powerful pictures to emerge from the war in Iraq: the graphic video of the group of US troops killed and captured in the early days of the conflict; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue during the fall of Baghdad; and the mangled bodies of Uday and Qusay Hussein after they were killed.
But yesterday's footage of a bearded and bedraggled Saddam Hussein -- including video of him undergoing a physical examination -- was that rare kind of indelible and iconic image that instantly earned a place in the history books. To some analysts, it ranked with such unforgettable scenes as the fall of the Berlin Wall and even the airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center towers.
At Fox News headquarters in New York, the first pictures of the captured Hussein stopped the newsroom, said John Stack, Fox News vice president of newsgathering. "Those kinds of things don't happen very often. Hardened journalists were basically stunned."
"No matter how many words of analysis follow, people will remember that extraordinary image," said Andrew Heyward, president of CBS News. "What's interesting about this is sometimes you get a picture that really encapsulates the story in a few seconds."
CNN anchor Aaron Brown said in an interview that it was "the picture of the year."
The news of Hussein's capture broke around 5 a.m. Sunday, and the networks were soon on the air with special reports. One sure sign of the importance of the event, other than President Bush's brief remarks shortly after noon, were the appearances of CBS's Dan Rather and NBC's Tom Brokaw, who hustled into their anchor chairs early Sunday morning. ABC anchor Peter Jennings was driving around in a police car in Los Angeles working on a documentary when he got word that Hussein was in custody, according to a network spokeswoman.
The circumstances surrounding the apprehension of the former Iraqi dictator -- the crude and cramped hiding place and the docile surrender -- generated the kinds of words and images that seemed to fit US policymakers' goal of debunking any remaining myths of omnipotence about the ex-strongman.
In his televised briefing, Major General Raymond Odierno said Hussein "was just caught like a rat." It was a theme reiterated by Brokaw, who declared that, in the end, Hussein was "simply a man trapped in a hole with nowhere else to run."
Several journalists said they thought the released footage revealing a disheveled Hussein submitting to a rudimentary exam was no accident but reflected an effort to humble one of the two men (along with Osama bin Laden) most fervently sought by the US government. It was that image of a beaten-down old man that may help reinforce Bush's message to the Iraqi people yesterday: You will not have to fear the rule of Saddam Hussein ever again.
CNN's Brown, who likened Hussein's appearance to that of the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, said the use of that footage "was smart and purposeful, and it was to humanize and dehumanize someone who cast himself as superhuman. It was literally looking for head lice on a guy who saw himself as an extension of God."
"I was startled that he looked as ragged as he seemed to," said Paul Slavin, senior vice president of ABC News. "I think it was clearly designed to show that this man was taken, captured, humiliated, and completely controlled by the US."
Television historian and analyst Robert Thompson said the "Saddam Hussein mug shot" may not yet be as well known to Americans as the "Michael Jackson mug shot." And he cautioned that the lasting importance of yesterday's pictures of Hussein could depend on how events unfold in Iraq. But he ventured that ultimately the image of the vanquished Hussein "will be on the end-of-the-year clip shows, it'll be on the end-of-the-decade clip shows, and it'll be on the end-of-the-century clip shows. I don't know if it will be on the end-of-the-millennium clip shows."
Mark Jurkowitz can be reached at jurkowitz@globe.com.
