Hussein's sons had different characters, but similar vices. Terrible secrets: Saddam Hussein Udey Hussein and his women
Unwanted son
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According to the official version, Hussein was born on April 28, 1937. But researchers believe that this date does not correspond to reality, and the present time of his birth is not known. The elder brother of the future dictator died of cancer at the age of 12.
At the time, Saddam's mother was pregnant. Due to the loss, she became depressed, tried to terminate the pregnancy and lay hands on herself. But the future dictator was born. But the mother did not want to see the newborn child, so his maternal uncle took him to his upbringing. In fact, he saved Saddam's life. A relative brought up Hussein tough, was very demanding of him, constantly instilled the idea of becoming the new Saladin - a powerful medieval ruler of the Middle East, a threat to the Crusaders.
Family ties
Saddam's first wife was his relative - Sajid's cousin. The dictator had five children from her: the sons Udey and Kusey, as well as the daughters Ragad, Ranu and Khalu. However, they were married when Saddam was still five years old, and Sajida was barely seven. The couple got married in Cairo, and Saddam personally planted a bush of elite white roses, which he named after his wife.
The second marriage was very scandalous and received wide publicity even outside of Iraq. In 1988, Hussein, already president, met the wife of the president of Iraq Airways. Saddam urged his spouse to divorce. He seemed to agree, but the dictator's cousin Adnan Heyrallah, who was then the Minister of Defense, began to object to the marriage. He soon died in a plane crash under mysterious circumstances. Many believe that Saddam had a hand in his death.
"Golden" dictator
Hussein was one of the richest men in the Middle East. He had a truly royal hobby - the construction of luxurious palaces. According to official figures, the dictator had 28 residences and villas, but eyewitnesses claim that there were much more of them - 80, or even 100.
Thus, the "Makar-et-Tartar" ("Green Palace") palace was built on the shores of Lake Tartar in 1993, its total area is 6.5 square kilometers. More than $ 50 million was spent on its construction from the treasury. The residence was striking in splendor: it had 45 bedrooms, and from the southern windows a picturesque view of the lake opened up. In addition, the "Green Palace" had underground bunkers and even underground laboratories. It is noteworthy that the dictator did not spend the night in the same palace for more than two days.
It was rumored that the dictator had mountains of treasures, some of which he managed to hide after being overthrown in 2003. There is a version that one of the planes with a huge amount of cash, which belonged to Saddam, is at one of the Moscow airports. However, no one has supposedly dared to come for wealth so far.
Difficult child
Saddam's eldest son, Uday, gave his father a lot of trouble. In Iraq and beyond, rumors of his sexual adventures were constantly circulating. Once he offered to have fun with the wife of the Danish ambassador. Such unbridled behavior of the son greatly angered the dictator, who summoned his son to him and severely beat him with a cane. After that, the "golden boy" moved in a wheelchair for a month, with one of his broken legs still not fully healed, for which he received the title of "lame".
Faith and Blood
In one of the mosques, the Koran is kept, which was written in the blood of Hussein. The holy book was shown to the public in 2000. For the manufacture of special ink, 27 liters of blood were used, which the dictator donated. However, experts are sure: this is an unrealistic figure for one person at a time.
After the overthrow of Saddam, religious leaders could not decide what to do with this Koran. On the one hand, this is a sacred book, which is forbidden to destroy. On the other hand, it is forbidden to write the Koran in blood; this act was immediately condemned by Muslims of many countries.
"Super Dangerous Personality"
According to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, almost 300,000 people have gone missing during the years of Hussein's rule. CIA psychologist Gerald Post assessed the personality of Saddam in this way: not paranoid and not crazy, but an extremely dangerous person, a pronounced narcissist, devoid of a sense of compassion for others. During the reign of Hussein, 17 ministers were sentenced to death, he executed two of his own sons-in-law. At the same time, after 1990, the former ruler of Iraq did not leave the territory of the country. Perhaps he was afraid of attempts on his life.
The fall
Saddam's government fell on April 17, 2003, when the remnants of the elite Medina Division surrendered under pressure from the Americans and their allies. The invaders established control over the entire country on May 1, and then began to look for representatives of the now former Iraqi leadership. In the end, the dictator himself was caught. He was arrested on 13 December 2003 in the basement of a village house near the village of Ad-Daur.
Very thin, dirty and overgrown, he was not at all like the powerful dictator he was only six months ago. As the commander of the US armed forces in Iraq, Ricardo Sanchez, noted, Saddam gave the impression of a man tired of life and resigned to his fate.
Imprisonment and execution
Saddam was held in the prison on an equal basis with the rest of the prisoners. He was placed in a tiny solitary confinement cell of four square meters. The once all-powerful ruler of Iraq did not have access to the media; he spent his time reading books, writing poetry and praying. Occasionally he was taken out for a walk in the prison yard, where he organized his own mini-garden. True, only weeds grew in it, nevertheless, Saddam carefully looked after them.
Sergeant Robert Ellis recalled that the ousted dictator often recalled his deceased daughter and almost did not mention the sons of Uday and Kussei, who were killed by the Americans. True, he once said that he really misses them.
Saddam was often interrogated. To make him more accommodating, he was shown video footage of jubilant Iraqis overturning statues of their former leader. According to eyewitnesses, this brought suffering to Hussein, his face turned red, his eyes filled with anger, and his voice changed. According to some reports, Saddam was tortured, but there is no evidence of this.
The ousted dictator was executed in the early morning of December 30, 2006, a few minutes before the start of the Eid al-Adha (Day of Sacrifice). The time was chosen so that the moment of execution did not coincide with the beginning of the holiday according to the Shiite calendar. However, in Sunni it has already begun.
Uday Hussein is one of the sons of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In his father's government, he served as chairman of the Union of Journalists, the Iraqi Olympic Committee and the local football association. He led the Iraqi Youth Union. He was considered a media mogul, owning the Voice of Iraq radio station and the Babil newspaper. He was a member of the Jerusalem Liberation Army, an armed group known as "Fedayin Saddam". In 2003 he was killed.
Biography of the son of the dictator
Udey Hussein was born in the city of Tikrit in 1964. At the age of 20, he graduated from an engineering college in Iraq. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee and rector of Saddam University. Uday Hussein's career developed very rapidly.
In 1995, he began to lead the volunteer militia units, which were known in the country as "Fedayin Saddam", which can be translated as "sacrificing themselves for Saddam." According to various experts, the number of representatives of these groups ranges from 20 to 40 thousand people throughout the country. They received $ 100 a month, land, extra food rations, and free medical care.
In 1991, when Uday Hussein's double went around the troops, members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party staged a terrorist attack at one of the checkpoints. Disguised as the Iraqi army, they fired at the car with the double from a light machine gun and threw grenades at it.
As a result, two guards were killed, the driver was wounded in the stomach, the double of Saddam Hussein's son himself injured his legs with fragments of a grenade and suffered a through wound in the arm.
Assassination attempts
Udey himself became the target of the assassination attempt. In December 1996, unidentified gunmen fired at his car with a pistol and machine gun on the campus. The guards managed to return fire to kill one of the attackers. Uday Hussein's bodyguard and a bystander were killed.
The rector himself received 8 gunshot wounds to the leg and left side of the body. One of the bullets tangentially wounded him in the groin, because of which he temporarily lost his reproductive function, later managing to restore it, but not completely. Because of a bullet in the spine, Saddam Hussein's son was paralyzed in his legs, and soon he completely lost the ability to move independently.
Only as a result of numerous operations was he able to stand on his feet, he was able to walk with a cane. According to experts, the dire consequences for his health after this assassination put an end to Uday's chances to take the throne after the death of his father. After that, everyone considered his younger brother Kussei to be the actual heir to the throne.
Member of parliament
In 2000, Udey Hussein, whose biography is given in this article, was elected a member of the Iraqi parliament. At the same time, the number of dissatisfied people in the country grew.
In 2003, he survived another assassination attempt. A group of armed men broke into the equestrian club in which he was and opened fire to kill. During the fierce firefight, three of Uday's guards were killed and the attackers managed to escape.
In Iraq, Udey Hussein was known as an educated man. He managed to defend his doctoral dissertation in political science at Saddam University. It was devoted to the problems of international relations in the XX century. In particular, in it he predicted the imminent and imminent collapse of America.
Threats to America
The situation in Iraq worsened in March 2003, when US President George W. Bush issued an ultimatum to Saddam, demanding to resign and leave the country with his sons, Uday and Qusay Hussein.
In response, Uday spoke on central television, stating that it was Bush who should step down after such statements. Otherwise, he promised to actively resist American troops if they showed up in Iraq.
He also warned that in the event of an attack by the United States of America on Iraq, the borders of the war will automatically expand, since some Islamic states will side with Hussein. He promised that the mothers and wives of those who went to fight in Iraq would cry.
Arrest
The next day, there was an unexpected reaction from his father, which demonstrated that this statement had not been agreed with the president. Saddam ordered the arrest of his son, and under armed guard he was taken to the presidential complex of Tartarus.
As it turned out later, the reason for the arrest was Uday's attempt behind his father's back to negotiate with the Jordanian leadership to flee to Amman. True, on March 31, 2003, shortly after the start of the American bombing of Baghdad, footage of the meeting of the military command was circulated. It was attended by Udey Saddam Hussein at-Tikriti, as his full name sounds, his younger brother Qusay, and Saddam himself presided. A week later, fresh footage of Uday appeared on the air of Iraqi television.
After Hussein's regime was overthrown, Uday disappeared from Iraq along with his father, younger brother and a number of people close to him. America has announced a hunt for them.
Detection
In 2003 it became known that they were hiding in a mansion on the territory of Mosul. Their whereabouts were revealed by an informant, a Kurd by nationality, who received $ 30 million for this.
Immediately after this, a tactical group was raised on urgent alarm, which is part of the secret military unit of the American special services. It consisted of CIA officers, fighters of the Navy and the special unit "Delta". Also, American paratroopers took part in the special operation.
Representatives of the ousted Iraqi leadership, who were hiding in the villa, offered fierce resistance. In the footage that the Al-Arabiya TV channel managed to shoot, the people in the villa were not ready for defense, the attackers took them by surprise. In particular, chocolates were scattered on the dining table, many of the defenders were wearing slippers at that moment.
Destruction operation
The special operation of American units took six hours. Immediately before the assault on the villa, all the people there were asked to surrender.
Having received no answer, the special forces moved to the house, but came under fire from the upper floor. Four soldiers were wounded. The US military returned fire.
After a while, they made a second trip to get into the building, but again they were unsuccessful. After that, ten anti-tank missiles were fired at the mansion. During this shelling, Udey and his brother and their guards were killed. Their bodies were loaded onto a helicopter and sent to Baghdad, where the previously arrested ex-President Saddam was brought for identification. As you know, he recognized his eldest son by the scar on his leg left after the assassination attempt.
Funeral
So that the burial place of Saddam's sons does not turn into a center for pilgrims and their supporters in the future, the American authorities for a long time refused to hand over the bodies of their sons to relatives. The remains were buried only two weeks later, in violation of all traditions existing in the Muslim world.
The brothers' funeral took place on August 2 near their hometown of Tikrit, in the town of Avja. The graves were covered with the Iraqi national flag. By order of the authorities given the day before, the number of participants in the funeral could not exceed 150 people.
Reaction in the world
The death of Uday Hussein caused a mixed reaction around the world. The Qatari Al-Jazeera TV channel broadcast an appeal by unknown militants who promised to avenge the death of Saddam's sons.
The American administration welcomed the successful completion of the special operation. In Russia, it is known about the reaction of the leader of the LDPR party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who was personally acquainted with Saddam. After the death of his sons, he sent a letter of condolences to the ex-president of Iraq.
The reaction of the Arab countries was extremely restrained. The Libyan leader said that the destruction of the brothers was an unnecessary measure, it would be enough to surround them and take them prisoner.
In the Middle East, a wave of outrage rose when photographs of Hussein's dead sons were released. In addition, this was done in violation of Muslim traditions: their bodies and faces were put on public display.
Film incarnation
In 2011, a drama by Lee Tamahori entitled "The Devil's Double" was released, which told about this operation of the American special services and the biography of Saddam's son himself.
The painting was based on the biographical book of Latif Yakhia, who was Uday's double, the so-called "bullet catcher".
According to the plot of this picture, everything begins with the fact that Udey, following the example of his father, finds himself a double. He becomes his classmate Latifa, who is taken away from the front, announcing the dead. He does not agree to become a copy of the son of the Iraqi dictator, but is forced to do so, as Uday's people threaten to inflict reprisals on his family. He is allowed to live in the house of Saddam's son, to wear his clothes, he cannot only use his women.
According to the creators of the picture, it was Latif who participated in the assassination attempt on Uday on the territory of the university town, after which he was temporarily completely paralyzed. Saddam's son himself appears as a villain who regularly raids Baghdad in search of victims for his sexual pleasures. For example, in the film, he rapes a schoolgirl, drugs her and throws the corpse into a landfill, and another time he abused the bride at her wedding, after which she was forced to commit suicide.
The role of Uday and Latif Yahia is played by British actor Dominic Edward Cooper. His first successful role was in Tom Vaughan's melodramatic comedy Get in the Top Ten, for which he received the Empire Award for Best Debut. Also among his roles should be noted the dramatic comedy by Nicholas Heitner "History Lovers", the melodrama "Education of the Senses" by Lone Scherfig, the dramatic biography of Simon Curtis "7 Days and Nights with Marilyn".
Saddam Hussein's half-brother, Sabawi, Ibrahim al-Hassan, died of cancer in Baghdad. Sabawi was sentenced to death and was in prison, but due to deteriorating health, he was taken to the prison hospital and died. It is noteworthy that he was one of the last surviving male relatives from the Hussein clan. But has the entire family of Saddam Hussein been destroyed?
Earlier, in 2003, after the American invasion, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan fled to Syria, in 2005 he was exiled to Iraq, where he was arrested on suspicion of leading and financing punitive operations. On the American list of 55 most wanted Iraqis, he was number 36.
Under Saddam, during the 1991 Gulf War, Sabawi al-Hassan served as head of the intelligence and security service and later as an adviser to the president. His son, Ayman Sabavi Ibrahim, followed in his father's footsteps and became a military man. He was also arrested in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and sentenced to life in prison, but subsequently fled.
Saddam Hussein's clan
When Saddam Hussein took over as the fifth president of Iraq, the world community hoped that the era of strife, war and violence in the Middle East would end. Indeed, during the first few decades of his reign, Iraq was on the road to progress. Hussein has often said that under his rule the country has witnessed its best and worst days. Illiteracy, unemployment and poverty have been virtually eradicated. Until the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam was bathed in economic, social and industrial prosperity. But soon, thanks to ongoing conflicts with neighboring countries, and later with the West, Iraq turned into scorched earth, and Saddam Hussein himself was found guilty of killing 148 Shiites and executed by hanging in December 2006. The Iraqi leader came from a poor family, his father Hussein al-Majid, a poor peasant, died shortly after the birth of Saddam. Mother, Sabha Tulfah al-Mussalat, a domineering woman, managed to challenge the typical situation of Muslim women, who were often kept in isolation, and became the de facto head of the family. After the death of his mother, the son built a huge Temple in Tikrit in memory of her.
Ibrahim al-Hasan, Hussein's stepfather, is an illiterate shepherd from the poor outskirts of an impoverished village. His sons, the brothers of Hussein, thanks to family ties, have already held leading positions in the government intelligence and security structures of Iraq. At the age of 20, Saddam joined the Baath Party. A year later, after an unsuccessful coup, he fled to Egypt and returned to Iraq only after the Baathists came to power. In 1968, he became deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, and more than ten years later - the absolute ruler of Iraq. He held the post of President of the country for 23 years. Only six people are considered direct descendants of the Iraqi leader. These are three daughters: Ragad, Rana and Khala and two sons: Udai, Qusai. It is believed that there is a third son, Ali from the second wife of Samira. Hussein married his first wife Sajida in 1963. This marriage was concluded by agreement, which was reached when Hussein was five and Sajida was seven. Before their wedding in 1963, they never met. Sajida herself is the daughter of Hussein's uncle and mentor, in fact, his cousin. The couple had five children.
Uday Hussein
Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday, was born on June 28, 1964. He had a reputation for being violent and violent. He controlled about a dozen newspapers and the most popular Iraqi television and radio stations. The American rating agency Moody's estimated his net worth at hundreds of millions of dollars. Income was also received from a number of other enterprises, including the food industry, they oversaw oil exports, most of the domestic economy, and also some issues related to international sanctions.
Compatriots noted that Uday's behavior was inversely proportional to his power: the more sources of income he controlled, the more destructive he acted. Perhaps the most famous incident can be considered the murder of Saddam's trusted valet, Kamil Hanna Zhuzhzh, after which the eldest son went into exile.
The extent of Uday's power to the encirclement has always remained a mystery, although most UN observers nevertheless tended to believe that it was the sons of Saddam who entrusted his personal safety. An interesting remark slipped into Newsweek: "It is not clear if Saddam is the master of his family." Some idea of the character of Uday Hussein is given by his relationship with women. Latif Yahya, a colleague, recalls that "the surest way to get Uday is to bring him a woman." Bodyguards often saw battered ladies leaving the master's bedroom. On July 22, 2003, Uday Hussein was killed along with his brother in a shootout in northern Iraq.
Qusay Hussein
Relatively little has been heard about the average son of a former Iraqi president. Born on May 16, 1966, Qusai led Saddam's security forces, which were called upon not only to protect ministers and party officials, but to arrest them as soon as they fell out of favor. His duties, in addition to protecting the president, included overseeing the Kurdish factions and UN military inspectors. After his uncle Hussein Kamel fled the country and was killed, according to some sources, Qusay became responsible for the appointment to key command posts in the government of Saddam.
Some reputable Iraqi sources believed that Qusai was in fact more powerful than his older brother Udai. Ahmad Chalabi, chairman of the Iraqi National Congress and leader of the exiled opposition group, believes that Qusai, as the head of the security forces, is stronger than Uday's influence on his father, and perhaps it was he who could become his successor. Qusay was married, he has three children, his eldest son Mustafa Hussein died with his father and uncle in Mosul in 2003.
Raghad Hussein
Ragad Hussein, the eldest daughter of the ruler of Iraq, was born on September 2, 1968. At the end of the Iraqi war, she fled to Jordan. Currently wanted by the Iraqi government on charges of funding and supporting insurgents and the banned Iraqi Baath Party. However, the family of the Jordanian king refused to hand her over. Raghad is married to Hussein Kamel and has five children from this marriage.
Rana Hussein
Rana Hussein was born in 1971 and is Saddam's middle daughter. Like Raghad, she fled to Jordan, from where she stood up for the rights of her father. She was married to Saddam Kamel and has four children.
ChallahHussein
Hala Husseina was born in 1972. This is the third, and it is believed, the beloved daughter of Hussein. Her father arranged her marriage back in 1998 with Kamal Mustafa Abdullah Sultan al-Tikriti. Khala, like her sisters, fled to Jordan with her children. The couple have two children. There is very little information about her, however, like all of Saddam's daughters. When American troops reached Baghdad in 2003, all publications and records about the president's children were ordered to be destroyed. People close to the family noted that she had a very bad relationship with her older brother, Udai, as the latter often shouted at his mother and younger sister.
Ali Hussein
Ali Hussein was born in 1982 from marriage to Samira Shahbandar. Mentioning him has always been considered a taboo topic for journalists. Those of them who dared to mention his name in the press faced the reprisals of Saddam's regime. And yet, Saddam was madly in love with Samira. He forced her to divorce her husband, who runs Iraqi airlines, Noureddin Safi. Ali, now 31, fled Iraq with his mother immediately after the American invasion. First they moved to Lebanon, later settled in Canada. It is said that as soon as a US attack became imminent, Saddam ordered all his family members to leave the country and seek refuge outside Iraq. At the same time, as a caring father, in order to help the children start a new life, he provided them with full financial support.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. The country is struggling to get out of the ongoing political struggle and sectarian tensions. The hopes for economic stability and the acquisition of civil rights for the common population of the country did not materialize. But members of Hussein's family, those who escaped persecution and death, have to live in a foreign land and watch with bitterness what is happening in Iraq from the outside.
Born on April 28, 1937 in the village of Al-Auja, 13 km from the Iraqi city of Tikrit, in the family of a landless peasant. The mother gave her son a name, which translated from Arabic means "the one who resists."
2. About Saddam's father Husseine Abd Al-majide, little is known. According to some sources, he died before the birth of his son, according to others, he left his family. In 1982, being the head of Iraq, Saddam Hussein built a giant mausoleum in honor of his deceased mother, and did not show such signs of respect to his father's memory.
Saddam Hussein. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
3. According to tradition, Saddam's mother married her ex-husband's brother, Ibrahim al-Hasan, who raised his stepson with the help of severe beatings and hard physical labor.
4. Saddam Hussein was greatly influenced by his maternal uncle Heyrallah Tulfah, a member of the anti-British resistance. In 1947, Saddam, who dreamed of going to school, fled from home to his uncle in Tikrit, where he stayed to live.
5. Despite all the hardships that befell Saddam Hussein as a child, the greatest shock of his youth for him was the death of his beloved horse. A 15-year-old teenager experienced such a deep shock that his arm was paralyzed for several weeks.
6. Saddam Hussein was married four times, but his first and beloved wife was his cousin Sajida who bore him five children: sons Udeya and Kuseya as well as daughters Raghad, The wound and Halu... Parents married Saddam and Sajid when the groom was five and the bride was seven years old. The couple entered into a real marriage 16 years after the engagement.
Saddam Hussein shortly before his execution. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
7. Among the hobbies of the Iraqi dictator was gardening. In the garden of one of his palaces, Saddam Hussein personally planted a bush of elite white roses, which he named after his beloved wife, Sajida. In the last months of his life in an American prison, while walking, Saddam diligently watered the weeds that grew in the courtyard.
8. The closest people to Saddam Hussein were his sons Uday and Qusay. Both sons of the Iraqi dictator were killed during an attempt to capture them by American special forces in the city of Mosul on July 22, 2003. Saddam's 14-year-old grandson was killed in a four-hour battle. Mustafa, who fired back from the commandos to the last.
9. From 1997 to 2000, Saddam Hussein regularly donated his blood so that a special group of calligraphers would use it to create a copy of the Koran. The Koran, written in the blood of a dictator, was presented to him on his 63rd birthday.
10. During the trial of Saddam Hussein in the fall of 2005, in addition to accusations of political repression and mass executions, among the main accusations against the Iraqi dictator, the work on the construction of dams, canals and dams in southern Iraq appeared, which led to the drying up of the Mesopotamian swamps and the transformation of this area to the salt desert.
11. FBI Agent George Piro, who participated in the interrogation of Saddam Hussein, said that the demonstration of video recordings of the demolition of Saddam's monuments by the Iraqis was used as a method of psychological influence on the dictator. According to Piro, these videos caused the prisoner great suffering.
A US Army soldier paints a portrait of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Photo: www.globallookpress.com
12. Hanged on December 30, 2006 by a court verdict, Saddam Hussein became the first head of state to be executed in the 21st century.
2003 year.
However, Uday became famous all over the world not as a journalist or Olympian, but as a sadist and psychopath. Western media, especially before the anti-Iraqi campaigns, have always been full of publications about the cruel massacres that Uday committed. According to eyewitnesses, Udey Hussein had a passion for torture, gambling, weapons and women, he easily fell into anger, and many, according to eyewitnesses, paid with their lives for daring to contradict him.
early years
Many sources claim that Uday was a real Don Juan. There is no doubt that part of his tumultuous life is exaggeration. But there is a fact that in the 80s he filmed girls in the nightclubs of Baghdad, after which he took them to his mansion. Those who resisted had to deal with his bodyguards using force. According to some reports, in 1979, at the age of 15, he took part in the massacre of members of the Iraqi Cabinet of Ministers, after which many of his powers were transferred personally to Saddam Hussein.
Wedding of Uday and his wife (cousin) Saji. The marriage was unsuccessful. Due to the cruelty and beatings of Uday, Saja was forced to return to her parents
It is also known about Saddam Hussein's son that he visited his many mistresses in a tank. The eldest son of the president, although he remained unpunished, was occasionally punished by his father. One day, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ordered to punish his son Uday with canes. The son of the president was subjected to such a severe punishment "for indecent offers to foreign women" to stay with him. It is noteworthy that the beatings were inflicted on the legs of Uday, who, after an attempt on his life, had been moving in a wheelchair for a long time. Because of this, diplomats among themselves called the son of the President of Iraq "Lame". Saddam was infuriated by the case when Uday, after swimming in the pool of the best Baghdad hotel "Rashid", invited the wife of the Charge d'Affaires of Denmark to spend the night together. The most scandalous incident happened in Baghdad with the Italian model Barbara Di Palma back in April 2002. She was invited to Iraq for a cultural event - to participate in a fashion show, but Saddam's son began to molest her and her friend, persuading them to have sex. The fashion translator was intimidated by the entourage of Hussein's son and claimed that they would be in serious trouble if they did not sleep with Uday. In all the hotels in Baghdad, Uday's henchmen were always on duty, picking up women for him. Often there were pop stars among them. One notable detail: all of Uday's "close friends" (both tourists and pop stars) invariably left him, gifted with the same luxurious silver bracelets.
After the overthrow of the Hussein regime, a secret women's prison was found in Baghdad, which belonged to the eldest son of the former Iraqi president. The girls who opposed Uday in his harassment were imprisoned in it. 11 female prisoners were rescued from prison - four died in custody from hunger and thirst. Uday lived in the presidential palace in Baghdad. There was another house nearby for his harem. American soldiers found mountains of pornographic photographs downloaded from the Internet in these houses, and all the walls were hung with paintings depicting naked women. Among them were even photographs of President's daughters Jenna and Barbara Bush, taken at the gym. There are hundreds of female names in the black book. There were also photographs of graduation classes, which confirms the suspicions that Uday ordered the kidnapping of girls to satisfy his needs. At the same time, the soldiers found Cuban cigars with his name on the packaging in the palace, a large number of alcoholic drinks, a gilded Kalashnikov assault rifle, six suitcases with heroin worth 625 thousand pounds (about a million dollars), expensive watches and photos of other women in the gymnasiums.
Assassination attempt
Politics and business
In March 2001, following a "general and fair" vote by a 99.9% majority, Uday was elected a member of the Iraqi parliament. In the future, he hoped to get the post of speaker, which would give him the right to participate in meetings of the highest authority in the country - the Council of the Revolutionary Command. However, by order of Saddam, no further move was made to Uday. And he was allowed to take a seat in parliament on the condition that Udey would not try to push his brother Kusei into the background. Uday tried to strengthen his position in the state security, removing Kusei's people from there. His influential newspaper Babil began to publish exposing materials about "corruption in the authorities." Saddam's eldest son even managed to achieve a number of changes in their leadership. However, he did not manage to turn the tide in his favor. Saddam's eldest son tried to gain a foothold in politics and take a special place in it. In February 2002, Uday was awarded the title of professor of political science at Saddam University in Baghdad for a 300-page doctoral dissertation on international relations in the 21st century. In this work, Uday predicted the imminent collapse of the United States.
Luxury
Uday Hussein was obsessed with gold jewelry and precious stones. So, once he bought a diamond worth 450 thousand dollars in Saudi Arabia, which he liked on one of the sites. And one of the Arab singers, who visited Baghdad with concerts, said that Uday wore gold plates with diamonds on his nails.
Uday Hussein is also known as a great collector. So, the eldest son of the former leader of Iraq has imported 1,500 cars into the country for himself over the past 12 years. He has collected one of the most unusual collections of prestigious cars in the world. Uday owned 18 Rolls-Royce cars, including Corniches, Silver Wraiths, Silver Spirits and Silver Shadows, each costing up to £ 250,000 at today's prices. Also in the collection were 3 Bentleys, at least 22 Mercedes-Benz, 3 Jaguar, Lamborghini Diablo VT worth over 180 thousand pounds, 4 Bugatti, 3 Aston Martin, 4 Cadillac, several Ferraris (including 348 Barchetta), half a dozen Porsches, Lotus Esprit, Maclaren, Maserati, dozens of Dodge and Toyota, as well as Mini Cooper and Land Rover Discovery that Uday used while hunting. In January 2001, Uday brought a convertible Bentley Azure from Jordan, which cost more than £ 230,000. Some of Uday's cars have been heavily modified. For example, one of the Mercedes had 150 changes, and one of the Rolls-Royce was redesigned to resemble a Mercedes in the back. In two Mercedes saloons were painted with scenes of war. The other car could have a quick color change to confuse the pursuit. Several cars, including a Rolls-Royce, were stolen in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion. Uday sent them on a ferry to Baghdad. He was forced to hide many of his cars in secret garages and warehouses because his father did not approve of such spending. One day, after a family scandal in October 1995, Saddam ordered the destruction of 50 Uday's cars that were parked underground in the presidential palace in Baghdad.
After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by the Baghdad police, 360 cars were found in Uday's personal underground garage. Some of them were destroyed or damaged during the bombing of Baghdad, the rest were hijacked during the pogroms and looting that began after the fall of Baghdad. Several cars were returned. The Baghdad police held an auction, selling the cars of Saddam's eldest son.
It is alleged that Uday killed his guilty bodyguards with his own hands right in front of his father's eyes. In addition, on his account the murder of his wife (one of three). He used the Olympic Committee building to torture athletes. Iraqi athletes who fled to the West told human rights organizations that when the team was losing, Uday would "prescribe" batons to players, dipped them in sewage, ordered people to be thrown off a bridge, forced to crawl on hot asphalt and kick concrete walls. Once the Iraqi national team had an unsuccessful match, they could not avoid several days of torture. During the match, Udai took notes in which he wrote in detail what kind of torture each individual player should be subjected to. At the end of the fight, the guilty ones (often the whole team) were sent to the basement of the Olympic Committee building, where they were waiting for long days of bullying. According to the testimony collected, in the last years before the fall of Baghdad, more than 50 athletes were tortured to death in Iraq, and the son of the Iraqi president was involved in almost all the deaths. An investigation by the International Olympic Committee did not prove the veracity of these accusations at the time, however, when Saddam Hussein's regime fell, American soldiers found many instruments of torture for athletes, including medieval ones, as well as special prisons for delinquent athletes.
"Fedayin Saddam"
Fedayin Saddam is a volunteer militia. Translated from Arabic "fedayin" means "sacrificing oneself." According to various estimates, the number of fedayeen in Iraq reached from 18 to 40 thousand. In 1995, this organization was created by Udey, who became its commander-in-chief. He paid them the equivalent of $ 100 a month (civil servants received $ 3), provided them with land plots, free medical care and additional food rations. Uday's idea to create an elite personal army out of this militia failed: in September 1996, a scandal erupted - Saddam Hussein suddenly found out that high-tech military equipment and heavy equipment were strangely flowing from the Republican Guard to the fedayeen. For some time, Saddam removed Uday from the leadership of the fedayeen, handing over their rule to his youngest son, but soon the elder Hussein regained leadership in “Fedayeen Saddam”.
The Fedayeen fulfilled all the whims of their commander: throughout the country they caught beautiful girls for him, cut off the tongues of opponents of the regime and intimidated the population. In 1998, the Vshiite city of Karbala, the fedayeen in black robes, wearing knitted black helmets covering their face, raided people whom they suspected of a failed assassination attempt on Izzat Ibrahim, Hussein's deputy in the Revolutionary Command Council. Hundreds of people have been imprisoned and tortured. This armed formation took an active part in the executions of prostitutes, which was led by Udey Hussein. The end of Fedayeen Saddam came with the death of Uday and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Doom
Before the start of the war on March 18, George W. Bush issued an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein demanding that he resign and leave the country with his sons. In response, Uday said on television that in reality the proposal should sound completely different: it is President Bush who should "resign." The son of the Iraqi president called the figure of the American president "unstable" and advised him to leave the White House. Otherwise, the "bloodiest battle" will be prepared for the American troops in Iraq. Uday Hussein warned the United States that an attack on Iraq would expand the war that some Islamic countries are waging against the United States. According to Uday, “ the wives and mothers of those who attack us will weep, and their tears will never end ... They will lose faith that there is at least one safe place for them - both in Iraq and in the rest of the world". The next day, Arab media reported that Saddam Hussein had arrested his eldest son and sent him under guard to the presidential complex of Tartarus. The reason for the arrest was a secret attempt by Uday Hussein to negotiate with the Jordanians to flee to Amman. On March 31, for the first time since the outbreak of the war, the world saw a military command meeting, chaired by Saddam Hussein. It was attended by Udey and his younger brother Kusey. A week later, on April 6, Iraqi television broadcast a live video of Uday for the last time. After the overthrow of Saddam's regime, Uday disappeared with his father, brother and a number of other Iraqi politicians. For him, as well as for many who were hiding, the hunt began.
House of Uday and Kusey Hussein in Mosul, destroyed by the US military
Arab world
The official reaction of the Arab countries to the death of Hussein's sons was very restrained. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi commented on the news as follows: “ it would be enough just to surround Uday and Kusey, capture them and submit the case to the court"Because such a brutal destruction of them" just unacceptable in modern civilized society».
