UDAI UND HUSAI

German papers on the death of Saddam's sons:

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung has an optimistic commentary from Stefan Cornelius. According to Cornelius, the Americans had been losing ground with respect to convincing the populace that they were the "lesser of two evils."

But now, through the death of Saddam's children, all of a sudden the memories of the old horrors come alive again. Arbitrariness and chaos -- those were the characteristics of the rule of Saddam's clique. In the streets of Bagdad people are firing their weapons in salutes of happiness; people are happy that they have been delivered from the power of the old regime, and this time it's a deliverance for all eternity.

For the US, the news of the firefight and death means that an important opportunity has opened up. Once again they can present themselves as liberators, once again the memories on the cruel past is awakened.

Doch jetzt wird durch den Tod von Saddams Kindern urplötzlich die Erinnerung an die alten Greuel wach. Willkür und Chaos – das waren die Führungsmerkmale der Saddam-Clique. In den Straßen von Bagdad wird Freuden-Salut geschossen, die Menschen sind froh, dass sie erlöst sind von der alten Herrschaft – diesmal gar eine Erlösung für die Ewigkeit.

Für die USA eröffnet sich mit der Nachricht vom Tod im Feuergefecht eine kleine, aber bedeutende Chance. Noch einmal können sie als Befreier wirken, noch einmal wird die Erinnerung an die grausame Vergangenheit geweckt.

The Sueddeutsche also has portraits of both men from the wires, here and here. (Tagesspiegel picks these up as well.)

The Frankfurter Rundschau has an editorial called "Propoganda Success," which essentially argues that the deaths are both very good for Iraqis and very good for Bush's domestic political prospects. The Handelsblatt has an article that makes the same argument ("Death of Saddam's sons can help Bush").

taz doesn't comment on the deaths; instead, they have a short news item from the wires.

Reuters Deutschland puts out a related story that the papers pick up: German intelligence agencies believe that Saddam Hussein is still alive.

(BTW, google deutschland makes this kind of thing a heck of a lot easier.)