Uday Hussein

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Uday Hussein
Born	June 18, 1964 Tikrit, Iraq
Died	July 22, 2003 (age 39) Mosul, Iraq
Children	None
Parents	Saddam Hussein Sajida Talfah

Uday Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti (June 18, 1964 Baghdad – July 22, 2003 Mosul), (Arabic: عُدي صدّام حُسين‎) was the eldest son of Saddam Hussein and his first wife, Sajida Talfah. He was the older brother of Qusay Hussein.

He was for several years seen as the heir apparent of his father. He produced the newspaper Babel and a local Iraqi TV channel called "Al-shabab TV". He was killed at age 39 by U.S. military forces during a prolonged gunfight.

He was briefly married to the daughter of Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri, former vice president and deputy chairman of Saddam's Revolutionary Command Council.^[1] but he later divorced her.

[edit] Biography

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Uday Hussein was born in Baghdad to Saddam Hussein al-Majid al-Tikriti and Sajida Talfah while his father was in prison. Although he was of legal age for military service during the Iran–Iraq War, Uday did not volunteer to fight, nor was he conscripted into the Iraqi military, as were most of his countrymen.^{[citation needed]}

Uday earned a degree in engineering from Baghdad University, graduating summa cum laude and top of his class of 76 students.

Although his status as Saddam's eldest son made him Saddam's prospective successor, Uday fell out of favor with his father.^{[citation needed]} In October 1988, at a party in honor of Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Uday murdered his father's personal valet and food taster, Kamel Hana Gegeo (some say at the request of his mother). Before an assemblage of horrified guests, an intoxicated Uday bludgeoned Gegeo with a cane, reputedly administering the coup de grâce with an electric carving knife. Gegeo had recently introduced Saddam to a younger woman, Samira Shahbandar, who later became Saddam's second wife. Uday considered his father's relationship with Shahbandar an insult to his own mother. He furthermore feared losing succession to Gegeo, whose loyalty and fidelity to Saddam Hussein were unquestioned.^[2]

As punishment for the murder, Saddam briefly imprisoned his son.^{[citation needed]} The original sentence was eight years; Uday probably served half of that in a private prison.^{[citation needed]} In response to personal intervention from King Hussein of Jordan, Saddam released Uday, banishing him to Switzerland as the assistant to the Iraqi ambassador there. He was expelled by the Swiss government after he threatened to stab someone in a restaurant.^{[citation needed]}

Saddam later appointed Uday head of the Iraqi Olympic committee, and subsequently the head of one of Saddam's security organizations. In the former role he tortured athletes who failed to win. ^{[3] [4]} Uday seemed proud of his reputation and called himself abu sarhan, Arabic for "father of the wolf."

Uday sustained permanent injuries during an assassination attempt in December 1996.^{[citation needed]} Struck by eight bullets while driving his Porsche, Uday was initially believed to be paralyzed. Evacuated to Ibn Sina Hospital, he was treated by a Cuban medical team and eventually recovered his ability to walk, albeit with a limp^{[citation needed]}. Despite repeated operations, however, a bullet remained lodged in his spine and could not be removed due to its location near the spinal cord. In the wake of Uday's subsequent disabilities, Saddam gave his younger brother Qusay increasing responsibility and authority, later designating him as his heir apparent in 2000.^{[citation needed]}

Uday opened accounts with Yahoo! and MSN Messenger, which caused controversy when the accounts violated U.S. trade sanctions against Iraq ^[5].

[edit] Death

House of Uday and Qusay in Mosul, Iraq destroyed by US forces, July 31 2003

On July 22, 2003, Task Force 20, aided by troops of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division, had a showdown with Uday, Qusay and Qusay's 14-year-old son Mustapha during a raid on a home in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. He had been the Ace of Hearts on the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. Acting on a tip from an unidentified Iraqi, the blocking element from the 101st Airborne Division provided security while the Task Force 20 operators attempted to apprehend the inhabitants of the house. After U.S. troops hotwired Uday's Lamborghini^{[citation needed]}, he revealed himself, upon which a gunfight ensued. The assault element withdrew to request backup. As many as 200 American troops, later aided by OH-58 Kiowa helicopters and an A-10 "Warthog", surrounded and fired upon the house. After approximately four hours of battle, soldiers entered the house and found four bodies, including the Hussein brothers' bodyguard.

According to news reports, many citizens of Baghdad responded to the brothers' demise with gun fire.^{[citation needed]} It is unclear, however, what sentiments this gun fire intended to convey. The firing of rounds is customary at funerals in some parts of the Arab world,^{[citation needed]} but is also sometimes used for celebratory purposes.

On July 23, 2003, the American command said that dental records had conclusively identified two of the dead men as Saddam Hussein's sons. They also announced that the informant (possibly the owner of the villa in Mosul in which the brothers were killed) would receive the combined $30 million award previously offered for their apprehension. Furthermore, the owner of the villa, Nawaf al-Zeidan, who is distantly related to Saddam, was granted U.S. citizenship and permitted to depart from Iraq. Locals said Zeidan had tipped off United States forces that Saddam's sons were staying there. In what was likely an act of revenge, on June 5, 2004, Zeidan's brother Salaah al-Zeidan was killed, and three of his male relatives (including an eight-year-old boy) traveling in the same vehicle were wounded by unknown assassins.

Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division and US Special Forces (Task Force 20) watch as a TOW missile strikes the side of a house occupied by Uday and Qusay Hussein in Mosul, on July 22, 2003

The Bush Administration has been criticized for displaying a double standard — publishing photos of the dead brothers despite condemning Saddam for releasing images of American prisoners of war. The U.S. military's response was to point out that these men were no ordinary combatants and to express hope that confirmation of the deaths would bring "closure" to the Iraqi people, even though international law clearly prohibits the publishing and ridiculing images of war dead or the use of such images for publicity purposes^[6]. When photos of Americans killed at Nasiriyah [in March 2003] were published, U.S generals declared it was a violation of the Geneva Convention^[7].

Uday was buried in a cemetery near Tikrit alongside Qusay and Qusay's son Mustapha.

v • d • e Photo of Uday Hussein's body after his death Photo of Uday Hussein's body after his death On July 24, 2003, pictures of the dead brothers were released to the press. The U.S. military command stated that the photographs were released in order to combat widespread rumors in Iraq that the men were still alive.

[edit] Allegations of crimes or misconduct

A report released on March 20, 2003, by ABC news detailed several allegations against Uday:

• As head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, Uday oversaw the imprisonment and torture of Iraqi athletes who were deemed not to have performed to expectations. According to widespread reports, torturers beat and caned the soles of the soccer players' feet — inflicting intense pain without leaving visible marks on the rest of their bodies. Uday reportedly kept scorecards with written instructions on how many times each player should be beaten after a poor showing.^[8] One defector reported that jailed soccer players were forced to kick a concrete ball after failing to reach the 1994 World Cup finals. Another defector claimed that athletes were dragged through a gravel pit and subsequently immersed in a sewage tank to induce infection in the victims' wounds.^[9]

Other allegations include:

• Allegedly kidnapping young Iraqi women from the streets in order to rape them. Uday was known to intrude on parties and otherwise "discover" women whom he would later rape. Time published an article in 2003 detailing his sexual brutality.^[10] In one such instance, he accosted a young woman who was walking with her husband, where Uday said her husband was a nobody, despite him wearing a uniform showing him to be a captain in the Iraqi Army. Uday then ordered his men to grab the girl, to which her husband struck Uday in defense of his wife, and was apprehended by Uday's bodyguards. The wife was raped and later murdered, and the husband was sentenced to death for "high treason against Saddam".^{[citation needed]}
• Alleged self-indulgence in an era of widespread privation. When U.S. troops captured his mansion in Baghdad, they found a personal zoo stocked with lions and cheetahs; an underground parking garage for his collection of luxury cars; paintings glorifying him and his mother with Saddam (which was known to have infuriated his father); Cuban cigars inscribed with his name; and millions of dollars worth of fine wines, liquor and heroin. An HIV testing kit was also found among his personal effects.^[11]

• Usage of an iron maiden on persons running foul of him.^[12]
• Allegedly Uday beat an army officer unconscious when the man refused to allow him to dance with his wife; the man later died of his injuries. Uday also shot and killed an army officer who did not salute him.^[13]
• Uday purchased or stole approximately 1,200 luxury vehicles, including a Rolls-Royce Corniche valued at over $200,000. Uday is reported to have arrived at a polling station during a referendum on his father's regime in a pink Rolls-Royce.^[14]

[edit] Plot

According to a new report, Hussein plotted in 2000 to assassinate a leader of an Iraqi opposition group. The report states Uday wanted to kill Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress.^[15]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• GlobalSecurity.org: Uday Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti
• DesertVoice.net: Saddam's sons
• BBC News: Saddam pounces on son's newspaper, 20 November 2002
• BBC News: Saddam's son steps into debate, 14 November 2002
• BBC News: Saddam's rival sons, 10 September 2002
• BBC News: Saddam sons 'dead', 23 July 2003
• Wired.com article on Uday's Yahoo! email address and password, 11 November 2002
• Album of Photos taken of the raid that killed Uday et al --Militaryphotos.net
• Hussein family graves^{[dead link]}
• Revenge for killing Saddam's sons