The U.S. yesterday released the bloody and grisly photos of two men they identified as Uday and Qusay Hussein, the sons of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

According to the Guardian of London, the release of the photos was delayed 24 hours because of an intense debate between military officials and the Pentagon’s civilian leadership. Head military officers protested the decision to release the photos.

Colonel Dan Smith, a retired military intelligence officer, said: “We have a tradition of respecting the dead … We objected to the showing of bodies of American servicemen. It’s kind of ironic that we turn around and display dead folks now.”

But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld defended the decision. He argued that it would help convince the world Hussein’s sons are dead. It is unclear how successful that has been. The Guardian reports one Iraqi newspaper claimed to have conducted an instant poll, in which 80% of Iraqis questioned said they thought the pictures were a fabrication.