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DNA Fingerprinting for Saddam Hussein
Aired December 15, 2003 - 15:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, how can we be sure that this man is in fact Saddam Hussein? Well, DNA testing is the best way to confirm his identity.
CNN medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, explains how it's going to be done.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the whole process of identification actually takes place a few steps before DNA testing. It actually has to do with actually just looking at someone, looking at their voice, looking at their mannerisms, trying to see if they are the right height, things like that. All these things take place before you ever get to DNA identity testing.
Are there any scars on the body? You'll remember Uday Hussein, looking at those scars on his leg, one of the first things they found before actually identifying him as far as confirmation.
Now, when you do move on to DNA identification phase, which is a little bit more complicated, obviously, scientific, what you're looking for specifically are these DNA repeats. You're trying to find these repeat sequences that exist in every human being.
If you find a match of these repeat sequences, you can be about 99.9 percent sure, very sure that you're dealing with the same person. But if you really hurry up the process of doing DNA testing, it takes about 10 hours to actually do this sort of thing.
Now, also, sometimes with these sorts of tests what you need to do is you need to make sure that you have the DNA of the person you're testing against, as well as the person that you're about to test. Now -- so if you have DNA from the person you think is Saddam Hussein, in this case, you have to make sure you're testing it against the real Saddam Hussein.
However, what are the different ways they may have gotten DNA from Saddam in the past? A list of things that are possibly -- licked envelopes, drinking glasses, razor blades, sexual partners in the past, a hairbrush or a comb, and then you can sort of do the reverse process by actually looking at the children as well.
Now, the children as well, it's not going to be quite as accurate. But still, a lot of times you can confirm by finding family members, getting their DNA, and then confirming it. Now, a lot of people know that DNA has sort of gotten a bad rap over the past several years because of some high-profile cases. It really has to do not so much with the veracity of DNA testing, but more so with the fact that any samples may have been mishandled, misplaced, or tampered with in any way. If any of those things have happened, it certainly calls into question the whole DNA test in the first place.
As you can look at the images there, a lot more being done by the medical professionals than just the DNA testing. Certainly an overall exam being done, looking for lice in his hair, for example, to give a sense of the living conditions. Looking at his weight to see if he's malnourished or emaciated in any way. He doesn't appear to be.
Does he have any pain? He's pointing to one cheek and then the other. Could he be signifying that there's any pain? And certainly looking him over head to toe.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 15, 2003 - 15:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, how can we be sure that this man is in fact Saddam Hussein? Well, DNA testing is the best way to confirm his identity.
CNN medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, explains how it's going to be done.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the whole process of identification actually takes place a few steps before DNA testing. It actually has to do with actually just looking at someone, looking at their voice, looking at their mannerisms, trying to see if they are the right height, things like that. All these things take place before you ever get to DNA identity testing.
Are there any scars on the body? You'll remember Uday Hussein, looking at those scars on his leg, one of the first things they found before actually identifying him as far as confirmation.
Now, when you do move on to DNA identification phase, which is a little bit more complicated, obviously, scientific, what you're looking for specifically are these DNA repeats. You're trying to find these repeat sequences that exist in every human being.
If you find a match of these repeat sequences, you can be about 99.9 percent sure, very sure that you're dealing with the same person. But if you really hurry up the process of doing DNA testing, it takes about 10 hours to actually do this sort of thing.
Now, also, sometimes with these sorts of tests what you need to do is you need to make sure that you have the DNA of the person you're testing against, as well as the person that you're about to test. Now -- so if you have DNA from the person you think is Saddam Hussein, in this case, you have to make sure you're testing it against the real Saddam Hussein.
However, what are the different ways they may have gotten DNA from Saddam in the past? A list of things that are possibly -- licked envelopes, drinking glasses, razor blades, sexual partners in the past, a hairbrush or a comb, and then you can sort of do the reverse process by actually looking at the children as well.
Now, the children as well, it's not going to be quite as accurate. But still, a lot of times you can confirm by finding family members, getting their DNA, and then confirming it. Now, a lot of people know that DNA has sort of gotten a bad rap over the past several years because of some high-profile cases. It really has to do not so much with the veracity of DNA testing, but more so with the fact that any samples may have been mishandled, misplaced, or tampered with in any way. If any of those things have happened, it certainly calls into question the whole DNA test in the first place.
As you can look at the images there, a lot more being done by the medical professionals than just the DNA testing. Certainly an overall exam being done, looking for lice in his hair, for example, to give a sense of the living conditions. Looking at his weight to see if he's malnourished or emaciated in any way. He doesn't appear to be.
Does he have any pain? He's pointing to one cheek and then the other. Could he be signifying that there's any pain? And certainly looking him over head to toe.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
