Five months before the capture of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, his sadistic sons Uday (age 39) and Qusay (37) were shot to death by U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. (A teenage son of Qusay was also killed.) I heard the news a few days after it happened while on vacation in Iceland. Unlike Osama bin Laden, photos of their shot-up bodies were widely circulated.
Our tour group was in the desolate central portion of the country on a gloomy day (pictured, left) when our tour guide, Yense, announced the news over the bus microphone. This was the first news we heard from the "outside world" since our trip began six days earlier. I found it interesting that Yense mentioned it since, except for me and my friend Tom and a feisty retired elementary school principal from North Carolina (who still sends me postcards), the rest of our tour group was from Ireland or the UK.
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