Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein (1937-2006) was an Iraqi political leader who set himself up in 1979 via a bloody purge as dictator of Iraq, ruling until unseated by the U.S. led invasion of the Iraq War in 2003. Following his arrest after the Iraq War, Hussein was tried by the new government and executed, by hanging, on 30 December 2006. Saddam's full name was Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti.

Saddam Hussein also had two grown sons at the time of the 2003 Iraq war. Qusay Hussein (1966–2003) was his younger son who had become heir-apparent and was chief of the Iraqi Republican Guard. Uday Hussein (1964-2003) was the elder son and still a part of the inner circle. He organized and led Saddam's Fedayeen irregulars for the Iraq War, wreaking havoc by conducting unskilled but fanatical raids on U.S. supply lines. Uday also spearheaded the Iraqi Olympic committee and was known for torturing athletes who lost. Some of Uday's cruelty has been attributed to constant pain from wounds suffered in a 1995 assassination attempt.

Uday and Qusay were killed fighting with U.S. troops on July 22, 2003.

Security organization

Hussein was concerned with the threat of coup d'etat and assassination attempts and built a complex security organization to protect him. Parts of the security organization also dealt with extremely sensitive matters such as weapons of mass destruction; they were the key to the concealment and bluffing operations with United Nations inspectors such as UNSCOM.

Essentially, there were five rings of protection, ranging from personal bodyguards to large formations capable of putting down military coups. The innermost rings were headed by persons of family or clan loyalty, but, even so, the organizations were split and cross-checked one another.