Uday Hussein is one of the sons of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. In the government of his father, he served as chairman of the Union of Journalists, the Olympic Committee of Iraq and the local football association. He led the Union of Iraqi Youth. He was considered a media tycoon, 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 the Fedayin Saddam. In 2003 he was killed.
Biography of the son of a dictator
Uday Hussein was born in the city of Tikrit in 1964. At age 20, he graduated from an engineering college in Iraq. Soon after, he was appointed Chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee and Rector of Saddam University. Udei Hussein's career developed very rapidly.
In 1995, he began to lead volunteer militias, which were known in the country under the name "Fedayin Saddam", which can be translated as "sacrificing themselves for the sake of Saddam." According to various experts, the number of representatives of these units is from 20 to 40 thousand people across the country. They received $ 100 per month, land, additional food rations and free medical care.
In 1991, members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party carried out a terrorist attack at one of the checkpoints when Udey Hussein’s double traveled around the troops. Dressed in the uniform of the Iraqi army, they fired a double car from a light machine gun and threw grenades at it.
As a result, two guards were killed, the driver was injured in the stomach, the double of the son of Saddam Hussein injured his legs with fragments of a grenade and suffered a through wound in the arm.
Assassination attempts
Udei himself became the target of the assassination attempt. In December 1996, unidentified men fired at his car with a pistol and an assault rifle on campus. In response, the guards managed to kill one of the attackers. The bodyguard of Uday Hussein and a casual passerby died.
The rector himself received 8 gunshot wounds in the leg and the left side of the body. One of the bullets tangentially wounded him in the groin, due to which he temporarily lost his reproductive function, later managing to restore it, but not to the end. Because of the bullet that hit the spine, Saddam Hussein’s son had paralyzed legs, and soon he completely lost the ability to move independently.
Only as a result of numerous operations he was able to put on his feet, he was able to walk with a cane. According to experts, the grave consequences for his health after this attempt put an end to Uday's chances to take the throne after the death of his father. After that, the actual successor to the throne was all examined by his younger brother Kusei.
Member of parliament
In 2000, Uday Hussein, whose biography is given in this article, was elected a member of the Iraqi parliament. Moreover, the number of dissatisfied 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 a fierce shootout, three of Uday's guards died, and the attackers managed to escape.
In Iraq, Uday Hussein was known as an educated person. He managed to defend his doctoral dissertation in political science at the University of Saddam. It was dedicated 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 was aggravated in March 2003, when US President George W. Bush issued an ultimatum to Saddam, demanding to resign and leave the country along with his sons - Uday and Kusey Husseins.
In response, Uday spoke on central television, claiming that Bush should resign after such statements. Otherwise, he promised to actively resist the American troops if they come to Iraq.
He also warned that in the event of a United States attack on Iraq, the borders of the war would automatically expand, as some Islamic states would take the side of Hussein. He promised that the mothers and wives of those who went to fight in Iraq would weep.
Arrest
The next day, an unexpected reaction from his father followed, which demonstrated that this statement was not agreed with the president. Saddam ordered the arrest of his son, and under armed guard he was taken to the Tartar presidential complex.
As it turned out later, the reason for the arrest was Uday's attempt to negotiate with the leadership of Jordan to flee to Amman behind his father’s back. True, already on March 31, 2003, shortly after the start of the bombing of America by Baghdad, the frames of the military command meeting were distributed. It was attended by Uday Saddam Hussein at-Tikriti, so his full name sounds, his younger brother Kusey, and Saddam himself presided. A week later, fresh footage with Uday appeared on Iraqi television.
After the Hussein regime was overthrown, Uday disappeared from Iraq with his father, younger brother and a number of close associates. America declared a hunt for them.
Detection
In 2003, it became known that they were hiding in a mansion on the territory of Mosul. An informant, a Kurd by nationality, who received $ 30 million for this, gave out their whereabouts.
Immediately after that, a tactical group included in the secret military unit of the American special services was raised by urgent alarm. It included CIA officers, Navy fighters and the Delta special unit. Also, American paratroopers took part in the special operation.
Representatives of the ousted leadership of Iraq, who were hiding in a villa, showed fierce resistance. In the footage that Al-Arabiya television managed to make, 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 at that moment were in slippers.
Destruction operation
The special operation of the American units took six hours. Just before the storming of the villa, all the people there were invited to surrender.
Having received no response, the special forces advanced to the house, but fell under fire from the top floor. Four soldiers were injured. The US military returned fire.
After some time, they took a second ride to get into the building, but again unsuccessful. After that, ten anti-tank missiles were fired at the mansion. During this shelling, Uday with his brother and their guards died. 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 the eldest son by the scar on his leg remaining after the assassination attempt.
The funeral
To prevent the burial place of Saddam's sons from becoming a center for pilgrims and their supporters in the future, the American authorities for a long time refused to extradite 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 funeral of the brothers took place on August 2 near their hometown of Tikrit, in the town of Avja. The graves were covered by 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 an mixed reaction around the world. The Qatari TV channel Al-Jazeera broadcast on appeal from unknown militants who promised to avenge the death of the sons of Saddam.
The US administration welcomed the successful completion of the special operation. In Russia, the reaction of the leader of the LDPR party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who was personally acquainted with Saddam, is known. 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. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said that the destruction of the brothers was an unnecessary measure, it would be enough to surround them and capture them.
A wave of indignation rose in the Middle East when photographs of Hussein's dead sons were published. Moreover, this was done in violation of Muslim traditions: their bodies and faces were put on public display.
Film incarnation
In 2011, Lee Tamahori's drama titled "The Devil's Double" was released on the screens, which told about this operation by the American intelligence services and the biography of Saddam's son himself.
The painting was based on the biographical book of Latif Yahia, who was a double of Uday, the so-called "bullet-catcher."
According to the plot of this picture, it all starts with the fact that Uday, following the example of his father, finds himself a double. It becomes his classmate Latif, who is taken away from the front, declaring the dead. He does not agree to become a copy of the son of an Iraqi dictator, but is forced to do so, as the people of Uday threaten to punish his family. He is allowed to live in the house of his son Saddam, wear his clothes, you can not 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 city, after which he was temporarily completely paralyzed. The son of Saddam 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, pumps her drugs and throws the corpse to a dump, 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 his work in Tom Vaughn’s melodramatic comedy, “Hit the Top Ten,” for which he received the Empire Award for Best Debut. Also among his roles should be noted the dramatic comedy of Nicholas Heitner's "History Fans", the melodrama Lone Scherfig "Education of the senses", the dramatic biography of Simon Curtis "7 days and nights with Marilyn."