Periscope

--Rod Nordland with bureau reports

SARS, Still

Two film studios in China and Hong Kong are already reportedly planning movies about SARS, but that doesn't mean we can all breathe easy again. Early last week the World Health Organization changed its estimated death rate to 15 percent--double the rate previously thought--due to new data. Even if the spread is soon contained, rehabilitation will be difficult: the Asian Development Bank has now warned that SARS could cost Asia $28 billion in lost economic output.

Iraq: Killer Jokes

Saddam Hussein, Taha Yassin Ramadan and Tariq Aziz are lounging on the balcony of one of Saddam's palaces when a flock of geese flies over. "Ramadan, shoot the geese," Saddam says. The vice president lifts his AK-47 and empties a clip into the sky, but doesn't hit a single goose. "You try, --Tariq," Saddam says. The deputy prime minister fires and misses as well. "Damn, I have to do everything around here," Saddam says. He fires five rounds in the air. None of the birds fall. There's an awkward silence. Then Tariq Aziz points at the receding flock and says, "My God, would you look at that! Dead birds flying!"

Telling a joke like that could get you maimed, tortured and even killed in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The most common penalty was tongue amputation. Iraqis know the story of Lt. Gen. Omar al-Hazzaa, one of Saddam's top officers. During a backgammon game with friends in 1984, the subject of Saddam's mother came up. Al-Hazzaa joked, "Who is she, anyway?" Saddam and his four brothers all had different mothers. Everyone laughed, but one of them informed on him. According to accounts from family survivors who later fled Iraq, first al-Hazzaa's tongue was cut out, then his sons had their tongues cut out while their wives were forced to watch. Then his male family members were killed in front of him, and his wife and daughters turned out of their home. Finally he was executed.