US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has defended the decision to release photographs of the corpses of Uday and Qusay Hussein.
Speaking in Washington he said he had ordered their release to help convince frightened Iraqis that Saddam's reign was over.
And in a further move today the US military took journalists to see the bodies at Baghdad airport,and were considering releasing video footage of Saddam's dead sons in a further attempt to convince Iraqis the brothers were killed.
Iraqi television broadcast pictures of the blood-spattered, bearded faces of the two, but many Iraqis were unable to see them due to power cuts plaguing the country.
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Qusay (top) and Uday in life and death
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But there is widespread skepticism among Iraqis that Saddam's feared sons had indeed been killed in a shootout with US troops at a villa in Mosul on Tuesday.
At least one newspaper planned a special edition carrying the photographs today, when most newspapers do not publish on the Muslim holy day.
A spokesman for the US-led civil authority in Iraq said journalists would be allowed to film the bodies for themselves today to dispel any doubts the photographs were authentic.
Mr Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference in Washington he felt the release of the death pictures was the right thing, outweighing any sensitivity over showing the corpses.
The US military was outraged when Arab television channels broadcast pictures of dead and captured US soldiers during the war that toppled Saddam.
US President George W Bush said the brothers had been "brought to justice."
One of the pictures shows the bearded, shaven-headed Uday lying on a plastic sheet with a gaping wound obliterating part of his nose and upper lip. A hand in a purple rubber glove holds the head to turn it toward the camera.
Another shows Qusay, Saddam's younger son and heir apparent, with his eyes closed and mouth hanging open. Trickles of blood have congealed inside one of his ears.
Military officers said Uday appeared to have been killed by a bullet in the head, but it was not yet known whether he had been shot by US soldiers or had committed suicide.
Washington hopes their deaths will increaes pressure on Saddam Hussein and demoralise guerrillas who have killed 44 US soldiers in attacks since Mr Bush declared major combat over on May 1st. But five soldiers have been killed in ambushes since the deaths of Uday (39) and Qusay (37).