name	Uday Hussein
birth place	Tikrit, Iraq
death date	(aged 39)
death place	Mosul, Iraq
relatives	Qusay Hussein (brother,deceased)
parents	Saddam Hussein (deceased)Sajida Talfah
children	Mesut Torun (son living in Turkey) }}

Uday Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti (18 June 1964 – 22 July 2003), () was the eldest son of Saddam Hussein from his first wife, Sajida Talfah. He was the brother of Qusay Hussein. Uday was for several years seen as the heir apparent of his father; however, Uday lost his place in the line of succession due to his erratic behavior and troubled relationship with his father and brother. Following the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, he was killed along with his brother by a secretive combined Special Forces Task Force (Task Force 20) during a brief gunfight in Mosul.

Uday produced the newspaper Babel and a local Iraqi TV channel called "Al-shabab TV". He was briefly married to the daughter of Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri, who was Vice President and Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, but he later divorced her.

Biography

Uday Saddam was born in Baghdad 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 Baghdad University College of Medicine. He only lasted in the Medical College for three days, so he moved to College of Engineering about a kilometer away. Uday earned a degree in engineering and graduating summum cum laude from Baghdad University, ranking #1 in a class of 76 students. However, some of his professors have testified he barely squeaked by on many courses, and was afforded the honor of summum cum laude 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 favor with his father. In October 1988, at a party in honor of Suzanne Mubarak, wife of then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Uday murdered his father's personal valet and food taster, Kamel Hana Gegeo, possibly at the instigation 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 mother. He furthermore feared losing succession to Gegeo, whose loyalty and fidelity to Saddam Hussein was unquestioned. Mubarak later called him a "psychopath".

As punishment for the murder, Saddam briefly imprisoned his son. The original sentence was eight years; Uday probably served only three months in a private prison. 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.

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

Uday sustained permanent injuries during an assassination attempt in December 1996. Struck by eight bullets while driving his Porsche, Uday was initially believed to be paralyzed. Evacuated to Ibn Sina Hospital, he eventually recovered but with a noticeable limp. 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 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 accounts 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.

Body double

Uday is known to have used a body double named Latif Yahia. Being from a well-off family, Yahia was sent to the best school in Iraq, and it was at one of those that he first crossed paths with Uday. Even then, his resemblance to Uday was something that was apparent as Yahia's classmates would point out. Years later, during the Iran-Iraq war, Yahia was a captain on the front when he was pulled out by Iraqi intelligence and forced to become Uday's fiday or body double via threats to his family. Yahia was then made to undergo training and cosmetic surgery (including dental) in order for him to resemble Uday more.

After surviving 11 assassination attempts targeted at Uday, Yahia successfully fled Iraq in December 1991. Uday had his father picked up and poisoned in retribution. Yahia wrote a book detailing his life and the life he lived as Uday's body double in his book The Devil's Double. A movie of the same name was filmed in Malta. The movie premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival to overall positive reviews. Yahia's story never received much widespread media coverage until after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Allegations of crimes

A report released on 20 March 2003, one day before the American led invasion of Iraq, 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 football 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. He would insult athletes who performed below his expectations by calling them dogs and monkeys—considered insults in the Arab world—to their faces. One defector reported that jailed football players were forced to kick a concrete ball after failing to reach the 1994 FIFA World Cup finals. Iraqi National Football team were seen with their heads shaved after failing to achieve a good result in a tournament in 1980s. It was widely circulated that Uday ordered the shaving as part of the punishment. 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. After Iraq lost, 4–1, to Japan in the quarter finals of the 2000 AFC Asian Cup in Lebanon, goalkeeper Hashim Hassan, defender Abdul Jaber and forward Qahtan Chatir were labelled as guilty of loss and eventually flogged for three days by Uday's security.

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. 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 beaten and later killed herself, and the husband was sentenced to death for "high treason against Saddam". 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. He amassed millions of U.S. dollars by running facade corporations illegally trading with Iran (although, at that time, UN restrictions did not allow foreign trading. Only later, Iraq was allowed to import certain commodities such as food and medical supplies legally under the UN Oil For Food programme). Usage of an iron maiden on persons running foul of him. Allegedly Uday beat an army officer unconscious when the man refused to allow Uday 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. Uday purchased or stole approximately 1,200 luxury vehicles, including a Rolls-Royce Corniche valued at over $200,000. A Lamborghini LM002, given to him as a gift by Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi was later blown up by U.S. forces to demonstrate the effects of a car bomb. According to a new report, Uday plotted in 2000 to assassinate Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, presumably to impress his father after Qusay was named heir apparent.

Death

On 22 July 2003, Task Force 20, aided by troops of the United States 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 (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. After U.S. troops hotwired Uday's Lamborghini, 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, thus killing Uday with 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 award previously offered for their apprehension.

Furthermore, the owner of the villa, Nawaf az-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. The brothers were said to have become overbearing in their demands and took his hospitality for granted. On 18 June 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. The U.S. Administration released graphic pictures of the brothers' bodies. When criticized, 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.

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

References

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

Revenge for killing Saddam's sons

Movie: The Devil's Double (2010)

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