The Silly Sight of Saddam in Skivvies ...

... is one people don't need to see.

There are certain things, Lord knows, that one does not need to see. Pictures of Saddam Hussein in his underwear is one of them.

They were published in the London Sun and the New York Post yesterday. I'm not going to bother linking, partly because I can't find an appropriate link, and partly because there are some things one does not want to inflict on people.

It's not that I think the Iraqi dictator deserves dignity, because I don't think he does. It's just that there are certain people whose body types create a gag reflex in public unless they're fully clothed. William Shatner, today, is one example. Saddam falls into this category.

But have you noticed something?

So far the only people stirred into a frenzy are the U.S. military, trying to figure out who leaked the photos. And Saddam's lawyer, who's threatening to sue.

But from Iraq? No riots, No denunciations. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Nothing on the order of what happened when the original Abu Gharib pictures were released. Maybe it can be blamed on bad reporting, but I don't think so.

President Bush has said: "I don't think a photo inspires murderers." He's probably right, but maybe it's something else: maybe the Iraqis don't miss Saddam. As bad as things in Iraq are now, maybe they think it's still better than life before the U.S. invasion.

And that, I suspect, bothers Saddam more than the world seeing him in his underwear.