On Monday, April 7^th, a B-1 bomber patrolling Iraq drop four 2,000-pound bunker bombs on a military leadership target in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood. The explosion allegedly killed nine people. Rumors suggested that Saddam Hussein and his two sons were among the dead.

With the immediate or future prospect that the unidentifiable remains of senior military leaders, such as Saddam Hussein, may be found at a bombing site, how can an investigative team be certain who they have found? This is where DNA testing applications are most valuable. DNA testing is commonly used to assist in answering questions just like this, and positively identify people and their relationships.

There are several different strategies that are used to positively identify unknown remains or biological stains. We will examine two of them here. The first is offered through a direct matching strategy using DNA specimens known to belong to the person in question. Since everyone has a very unique DNA profile, when people touch things they can leave trace evidence of DNA behind, linking them to being somewhere. This method is commonly used to solve crimes. By placing someone?s DNA at the scene of a crime you are actually placing them at the scene of a crime.  For example, let?s say the US Marines found some items known to belong to Saddam Hussein, such as a toothbrush, comb, or a blood stained garment. These items can be examined to determine his unique DNA profile.

In the hypothetical Figure 1, by comparing the known DNA profile for Saddam Hussein to the unknown samples found at the bomb site (Samples A, B and C), you can see how the known DNA matches Sample C, suggesting that it is Saddam Hussein.
 

FIGURE 1:

But what if you do not have a known DNA profile? A DNA reconstruction strategy can be use to match the DNA profile of a known relative to the DNA profile of the unknown remains. Since everyone has a unique DNA profile, by looking at a several different locations on the DNA you can see a pattern that makes one person different from another. Since half your DNA comes from each of your parents, you can eliminate possibilities of a biological relationship between two specimens.

In the hypothetical Figure 2, by comparing the unknown DNA to the known DNA profiles of Saddam Hussein?s mother and father to the DNA profiles of the remains found at the bomb site (Sample A, B, or C), you can determine that Sample B may belong to the Saddam Hussein.

FIGURE 2:

Commercial genomic laboratories, such as GeneTree DNA Testing Center (www.genetree.com), offer DNA testing services directly to the public. GeneTree allows anyone to be the investigator by offering DNA profiling services to test items, such as hair, licked stamps/envelops, blood and other body fluids, to resolve questions regarding identification and biological relationships such as paternity.

Whatever the fate of Saddam Hussein and his military leadership may be, the science of DNA profiling offers a proven method to positively identify unknown remains. In fact, the US Military is currently planning to obtain DNA profiles of blood stained US military uniforms that were found near Baghdad. These uniforms are believed to belong to US soldiers known to be Iraqi prisoners of war.