A brief biography
Uday Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti was born in 1964, the oldest of five children (one brother, three sisters) from Saddam Hussein's marriage to his first cousin Sajida, a marriage arranged when Saddam was very young (aged four, five, or six, depending on the account).
At odds with Uday's reputation as an adult, one of his former teachers told Newsweek magazine that she "remembers a very different Uday," and recalls "a normal child who was bright, cheerful and responsive to discipline" who was "always grinning and happy."
As an adult, Uday was considered less stable and more violent than his brother Qusay, and despite his not inconsiderable power in Iraq, he was considered unlikely to succeed his father as leader of Iraq.
According to a May 2003 ABCNews.com report, Sharif Ali Bin Al-Hussein of the Iraqi National Congress, a London-based umbrella of Iraqi opposition groups, says, "As children, Uday and (his younger brother) Qusay were taken to see tortures of traitors to toughen them up. They grew up surrounded by tales of betrayals, executions, torture, danger and paranoia."
According to a 1991 Washington Post story, Uday, while in his mid-twenties, had made millions with his company Super Chicken, a food processing chain, and another company called the Wave that makes ice cream.
According to other reports, Uday entertained himself during the 1991 Gulf War by stealing hundreds of expensive cars from Kuwait and stashing them throughout Iraq.
In October 1988, Uday bludgeoned and kicked to death a valet of Saddam's, ostensibly because the valet acted as a go-between for Saddam and his long-time mistress, Samira. Some reports have him swallowing pills and ending up in a hospital immediately afterwards. Uday was banished to Switzerland as a result, and remained there until he was deported for repeated drunk and disorderly conduct.
By 1993, Uday had taken over part of the work that used to be done by the Ministry of Culture and Information. Uday would become Iraq's media czar, owning the Babil daily paper, the weekly Rafidayn and the Al-Shabab TV station.
Uday was credited with having a part in the early 1996 killing of his two brothers-in-law, Hussein Kamel and Saddam Kamel, who were married to Uday's sisters Raghd and Rana. Hussein Kamel, a former head of Iraq's military industries, had defected to Jordan in August 1995 with his brother, who had headed Saddam's personal guard. The two were lured back to Baghdad, and to their deaths, by promises of an amnesty. Uday is thought to have been responsible for the Kamels' defection in the first place, after threatening to have Hussein arrested.
A December 1996 assassination attempt left Uday temporarily paralyzed, and he was reported to remain in generally poor health thereafter. The intelligence services never found the perpetrators with the exception of Ali Izzat, a former member of a military office whose sports car was found near the site of the assassination attempt in Baghdad's Mansur district and who was liquidated one week after the assassination attempt. (From globalsecurity.org .)
In 1998, Uday killed Hanna Jajo, Saddam's most trusted food-taster and procurer of women, after Jajo refused to stop firing a gun into the air at a party. Uday clubbed him to death.(From globalsecurity.org .)
Uday was elected to the National Assembly in the spring of 2000 - although it took him some six to eight months to physically show up.(From globalsecurity.org .)
Uday also was the head of Iraq's Olympic Committee.
Abuses and atrocities
In May 2001, Saad Keis Naoman, an Iraqi soccer player who defected to Europe, reported that he and his teammates were beaten and humiliated at the order of Uday Saddam Hussein for poor performances. He was flogged until his back was bloody.
Another former Iraqi international soccer player, Sharar Haydar Mohamad Al-Hadithi, stated in August 1999 that he and his teammates were tortured on Uday Hussein's orders for not winning matches.
In 2000, three soccer players who played for a team that lost an October game in the Asian Cup quarter finals reportedly were whipped and detained for 3 days.
In 1997, members of the national football team reportedly were beaten and tortured on Uday's orders because of poor play in a World Cup qualifying match.
According to ESPN, Uday has athletes "beaten with iron bars. Caned on the soles of their feet. Chained to walls and left to stay in contorted positions for days. Dragged on pavement until their backs are bloody, then dunked in sewage to ensure the wounds become infected. If Uday stops by a player's jail cell, he might urinate on his bowed, shaven head."
A defector claimed that "Uday also killed his friend Muhammed Qaraghuli in a particularly brutal manner. He forced three bottles of gin down his throat by continuously beating him. Qaraghuli passed out. Uday then ordered that he be on a merry-go-round at an amusement park. Qaraghuli fell from it onto a metal stake that went through his head."
Former members of Saddam's Fedayeen, a security force led by Uday, report using torture tactics such as the severing of a tongue, fingers, hands, or ears; the penalty for lying was to drop 18-pound concrete blocks on the back of the accused; informers who gave inaccurate information had hot irons put in their mouths; army deserters had their ears sliced off. One Fedayeen member had his tongue cut off for repeating a comment someone else made comparing Uday's shiny clothes to women's garments, while another who disobeyed an order had his fingers cut off.
Former Fedayeen members also report carrying out frequent assassinations, and often delivered the head of the deceased to his family afterwards.
Uday earned a reputation as a prolific rapist. Witnesses report that he has a nearly insatiable appetite for women, who would emerge from his chambers battered and bruised — at best.
Uday has reportedly murdered at least half a dozen women and tortured countless others. When one woman complained about the abuse, Uday had her "stripped naked, covered in honey and killed by three starving Dobermans," according to Middle East Quarterly.
The end of Uday
source: www.globalsecurity.org
NEWS RELEASE
HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND
7115 South Boundary Boulevard
MacDill AFB, FL 33621-5101
Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894
July 22, 2003
Release Number: 03-07-68
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STATEMENT REGARDING OPERATION IN MOSUL, IRAQ
Statement from US Central Command:
On Tuesday, July 22, forces associated with the 101st Airborne Division and Special Operations Forces conducted an operation against suspected regime figures at a residence in Mosul, Iraq. The site is currently being exploited. Four Iraqis were killed in the operation. We have confirmed that two of the dead were Saddam’s sons Uday and Qusay.
From Lt. Gen. Sanchez Press Briefing on Uday and Qusay Hussein:
"Today our coalition forces associated with the 101st Airborne Division, Special Forces and Air Force assets conducted an operation against suspected regime members. An Iraqi source informed the 101st Airborne division on today that several suspects, including Qusay and Uday, numbers two and three on the U.S. Central Command's most-wanted list, were hiding in a residence near the northern edge of the city.
"The six-hour operation began when the division's Second Brigade Combat Team approached the house and received small-arms fire. The division subsequently employed multiple weapons systems to subdue the suspects, who had barricaded themselves inside the house and continued to resist detention fiercely.
"Four persons were killed during that operation and were removed from the building, and we have since confirmed that Uday and Qusay Hussein are among the dead. The site is currently being exploited.
"Four coalition soldiers were wounded in the operation, and I pray for their speedy recovery.
"The coalition is committed to working with the citizens of Iraq to maintain a safe and secure environment for all of its people, and we will continue to strive for a better quality of life for all Iraqis in this country."
Subsequent news reports confirmed that Uday's remains had been identified both by physical identification and by analysis of dental records.