 Saddam Hussein's family
Behind every megalomaniacal dictator is a woman we hear nothing about. Sajida Khayrallah -- Mrs. Saddam Hussein -- is reportedly a clotheshorse, but then again, so is Saddam. She was a teacher at one time. She's jealous, and with good reason. Saddam and Sajida's marriage was arranged when Saddam was only 4 or 5 years old. Sajida, the daughter of his uncle Khayrallah, was two years older. Reports vary, but most state that Saddam and Sajida were married in 1958. Some believe Saddam has a second wife, or perhaps had a second wife -- Samira Shahbandar. By some accounts, Saddam secretly married Samira without going through the formality of divorcing Sajida. In one story that circulated around the time of the Gulf War in early 1991, Sajida was overcome with jealousy and humiliation when Saddam began making public appearances with Samira in the late 1980s. Her brother, Adnan Khayrallah, complained bitterly on her behalf. The complaints stopped when Adnan was killed in a helicopter crash attributed to 'mechanical failure.' Saddam's sons If Saddam Hussein is killed, power would most likely pass to his sons, Uday and Qusay. It is hard to imagine how, but Saddam's sons, according to intelligence officials, defectors and others familiar with the Iraqi president and his offspring, could be worse than the father. Uday, 38, is known to be reckless and violent. Qusay, 36, is calmer, colder and ultimately more dangerous. They were born and bred to violence. 'They really like to see blood,' according to a former colonel in Saddam's security service. 'They like to see people tortured. The difference is that Qusay does everything quietly; he has never been in the open like Uday.' Uday runs his own prison, and Saddam has long allowed him to run the import-export ministries, extremely lucrative in a regime that has lived under international sanctions since the 1991 Gulf War. Qusay runs the Special Security Organization, the tip of Saddam's security network of informants and thugs. He is also commander of the 15,000 or so troops who are most loyal to Saddam. Not much happens in Iraq's police state without either Saddam or Qusay knowing about it, which is why the Dec. 12, 1996, assassination attempt on Uday remains such an intriguing mystery. It's entirely possible that Saddam or Qusay tried to eliminate Uday. According to a former Saddam bodyguard: "Everyone in this country hates Uday, but his family hates him more." Sources: International staff, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Associated Press, Newsweek, 'The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein' |
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