>In an interview with the venerable Amy Goodman on
>Democracy Now!, he goes even further.
Hmm, you can get something similar in the FT (without all that duo's heavy breathing):
Financial Times - July 24, 2003
IRAQ: Locals say brothers died fighting like heroes By Charles Clover in Mosul
Across the street from the still-smoking house in Mosul where Qusay and Uday Hussein are said to have died on Tuesday, residents who saw it happen disagree on virtually all details but one: whoever was in the house died heroically.
"We should be proud as Iraqis that they died this way. Four men held off the American army for five hours. They died like men," said Mohammed Jubburi, who works at a supermarket across the street.
Neighbours yesterday milled around, inspecting the rocket-blasted house of their neighbour, Sheikh Nawaf al-Zaidan, whom locals accuse of having given the US forces information that the sons of Saddam Hussein were hiding there, along with Qusay's son Mustafa and a bodyguard. US forces have not confirmed who the informant was but have taken Mr Zaidan into protective custody.
It was not known why the sons were in Mosul but Mr Zaidan is a distant relative of Mr Hussein. They appear to have been changing safe houses and had been there for a maximum of three weeks.
Locals were furious with Mr Zaidan, not only, they say, for bringing the catastrophe on their neighbourhood but for betraying Mr Hussein's sons to the US forces. Betraying a guest goes against the tribal code of Iraqi society, which stresses hospitality above all else. "I can only say that nothing compares with this as treachery," said Sheikh Shahir al-Khazaraji, who lives across the street from Mr Zaidan, and who saw Mr Zaidan on Tuesday evening, after the battle, boasting that the Hussein brothers had been in the house.
While the killing of the brothers is undoubtedly a victory for US forces in the postwar campaign, they appear to have created legends. They were despised in life as part of a hated regime but in death they have taken on the status of martyrs, at least in the minds of residents. "They fought excellently," said Mr Jubburi, who claims they killed two US soldiers and wounded two others. The US military says none of its soldiers was killed in the operation.
"This is nonsense. They are lying," said Mr Jubburi. US soldiers guarding the house yesterday said they were under strict orders not to comment to the press on Tuesday's events.
Few in the neighbourhood had any inkling of who might have been sharing Mr Zaidan's house and all said they were stunned by the suddenness and brutality of the fighting on Tuesday.
Mr Khazaraji said: "Now we are all thinking back and saying, 'well, there was this thing that was out of the ordinary, and we should have been more curious'."
For example, his daughter saw a strange black Mercedes pull up to the Zaidan house late at night 20 days ago, and two men go in. Two days later, a van took all the furniture from the house.
At 6am on Tuesday, Mr Khazaraji said he saw all the women of the Zaidan family leave the house in a hurry.
The battle started about 9am when dozens of US soldiers surrounded the house, calling for those inside to surrender. Mr Zaidan and his son Sha'lan walked out, were handcuffed and escorted away. Once this had happened, those inside the house opened fire on the US soldiers, who traded rifle and machine-gun fire for more than three hours.
It appears that US commandos tried at least once to enter the house but were driven back by gunfire. About noon, reinforcements - including helicopters - arrived and fired 20 to 25 missiles, reducing the house to a smoking tomb.
At 2pm, US troops were finally able to enter the house. They brought out four bodies wrapped in blankets and laid them on the pavement.
According to Mr Jubburi and a number of other witnesses, a group of about 100 Iraqis farther down the street began to chant: "Allahu Akbar!" [God is Great] when the bodies were brought out. They say they were fired on though US soldiers vehemently deny this.
Throughout the battle, residents had no idea what was happening or why. At 6pm, four hours after the shooting stopped, Mr Khazaraji said he saw Mr Zaidan in the street. "He was not in handcuffs. In fact, he had a glass of tea," he said. "He told me: 'Uday and Qusay were in the house and brought a lot of problems with them'."