With one minute of videotape, the US destroyed 30 years of imagery cultivated by Saddam Hussein. The childlike portrayal of Saddam receiving a medical exam — compliantly tilting his head and opening his mouth for the doctor — was a stunning contrast to the gun-packing, fatigue-wearing warrior bellicosity he projected to Iraqis. ‘‘It looks like he’s a weak character, which means a dramatic change in the understanding of Saddam,’’ a stunned Abdullah Khibirti said as sat in a Baghdad hotel lounge, watching the footage on Arabic TV stations. ‘‘He looked to me like somebody who wanted to be arrested, who was expecting it and accepting it,’’ added Khibirti, 30, a building contractor. ‘‘There’s something wrong.’’ At the end, the vastly reduced circumstances of the once all-powerful Saddam — his dishevelment and seeming haplessness — represented a stunning public humiliation in a macho culture that puts plenty of stock in the appearance of strength. The video is devastating to Saddam’s legacy, a point certainly not lost on whoever decided to include footage of him undergoing procedures — a scalp and mouth exam — that suggest a pediatric visit. The man examining Saddam appears younger than the 66-year-old former dictator, yet stands over him and looks paternal in handling Saddam’s head. Saddam appears deferential when, looking upward, he blinks his eyes rapidly while the medical examiner flashes a light down his throat. He strokes his beard idly in another segment. In perhaps the most damning shot, Saddam at one point appears to talk to the doctor while pointing to both sides his jaw, indicating not just that he was cooperating with his captors but that he was appealing for their help. The tape strikes a sharp contrast to the photos of Saddam’s bloodied sons, Uday and Qusai, who died in a brutal firefight with US forces. And US officials, who waited a few days before releasing those photos, had the Saddam videotape ready at the start of a news conference announcing his capture. ‘‘The US military is trying to convey a message: He’s in our control, he’s no longer going to hurt you, we have him in our hands,’’ said Abid al-Marayati, an Iraqi professor of international relations at the University of Toledo in Ohio. The tape also was vital to convincing skeptical Iraqis that the elusive Saddam actually was captured. Bashar Alnaeemi, who owns a car-rental company in Baghdad, wasn’t sure — until he saw the tape. ‘‘His face, it was so clear. The way he moved his hand to his beard,’’ Alnaeemi said, ‘‘you know it was Saddam.’’ — LAT-WP
