Uday Hussein

Biography

Uday Saddam was born in Tikrit to Saddam Hussein and Sajida Talfah while his father was in prison.

Uday graduated from high school with very high marks. He started his university days in the Baghdad University College of Medicine. He lasted in the medical college for only three days, after which he moved to the College of Engineering about a kilometer away. Uday gained a degree in engineering and graduated summa cum laude from Baghdad University, ranking No. 1 in a class of 76 students. However, some of his professors later admitted that Uday barely managed to earn passing grades in many of his classes, and was granted the honour of valedictorian solely because he was Saddam's son.

Although his status as Saddam's elder son made him Saddam's prospective successor, Uday fell out of favour with his father. In October 1988, at a party in honour of Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Uday murdered his father's personal valet and food taster, Kamel Hana Gegeo, possibly at the request of his mother. According to Jalopnik website, Uday's vast car collections were burned by his father, Saddam, after the Kamel Hana Gegeo incident. Before an assemblage of horrified guests, an intoxicated Uday bludgeoned Gegeo and repeatedly stabbed him 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 mother. He also may have feared losing succession to Gegeo, whose loyalty and fidelity to Saddam Hussein was unquestioned.

As punishment for the murder, Saddam briefly imprisoned his son and sentenced him to death; however Uday probably served only three months in a prison in a private area. 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 in 1990 after he was repeatedly arrested for fighting.

Saddam later appointed Uday chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee and the Iraq Football Association. In the former role, he tortured athletes who failed to win. Furthermore, he founded his own sports club called Al-Rasheed and signed all the best players from the country to play for the club as they went on to dominate Iraqi football until their dissolving in 1990. He also became the editor of the Babel newspaper, the general secretary of the Iraqi Union of Students and the head of the Fedayeen Saddam. Uday seemed proud of his reputation and called himself Abu Sarhan, an Arabic term for "wolf".

Uday sustained permanent injuries during an assassination attempt in December 1996. Struck by between 7 and 13 bullets while driving in Mansour (Bagdad) Uday was initially believed to be paralyzed. Evacuated to Ibn Sina Hospital, he eventually recovered but with a noticeable limp. Despite repeated operations, however, two bullets remained lodged in his spine and could not be removed due to their location near the spinal cord. In the wake of Uday's subsequent disabilities, Saddam gave Qusay increasing responsibility and authority, designating him as his heir apparent in 2000.

Uday opened accounts with Yahoo! and MSN Messenger, which created controversy when the provisioning of the accounts allegedly violated U.S. trade sanctions against Iraq. Uday also amassed a large video collection, found in his palace in 2003, much of which featured himself in both public and private situations.

Personal life

Uday had a headstrong, flamboyant, and a sometimes erratic personality, being utterly ruthless with his adversaries and those he perceived as threats. He grew up idolizing his father, though he later became upset with his father's extra-marital affairs and many mistresses. Uday was close to his mother Sajida Talfah. At his uncle's Adnan Khairallah funeral in 1989 Uday showed a rare moment of tenderness. He was said to enjoy the presence of his reclusive younger brother Qusay, but Uday later grew envious, and he maintained distance as his younger brother's power grew.

Neglect and lack of bonding with Saddam in childhood, and Sajida's over-nurturing moulded his character. He along with Qusay was involved in the killing of his two brothers-in-law, Hussein Kamel al-Majid and Saddam Kamel al-Majid in 1996. The two men were murdered after their return to Iraq, while defecting earlier to Jordan along with their wives and children.

In a sign of loyalty to Saddam, the vice president of the Revolutionary Command Council Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri consented to marry his daughter to Uday. But al-Douri's influence with Hussein was so substantial that he was able to levy a condition: that the union would not be consummated. Because of Uday's violent and erratic behaviour, al-Douri quickly petitioned that his daughter be permitted to divorce Uday. Uday was reported not having any children from his marriage.

Uday was reported to have converted to Shia Islam, but he denied these reports.

Allegations of crimes

A report released on 20 March 2003, one day after the American led invasion of Iraq, by ABC News detailed several allegations against Uday:

Other allegations include:

Death

On 22 July 2003, Task Force 20, aided by troops of the United States Army 101st Airborne Division, surrounded Uday, Qusay and Qusay's 14-year-old son Mustapha during a raid on a home in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Uday had been the Ace of Hearts on the most-wanted Iraqi playing cards (with Qusay being the Ace of Clubs). 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. As many as 200 American troops, later aided by OH-58 Kiowa helicopters and an A-10 "Warthog", surrounded and fired upon the house, thus killing Uday, Qusay, and Qusay's son. After approximately four hours of battle, soldiers entered the house and found four bodies, including the Hussein brothers' bodyguard.

Later, 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 reward previously offered for their apprehension.

The U.S. Administration made public graphic images of the deceased bodies of the Hussein brothers. In response to criticism, the U.S. military emphasized that these individuals were not typical combatants and expressed an expectation that confirming their deaths would help provide closure to the Iraqi populace. Uday was laid to rest in a cemetery near Tikrit, where Qusay and Mustapha Hussein were also buried.

That night, and several nights following Uday and Qusay Hussein's death, celebratory gunfire could be heard throughout Baghdad.