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Confusion surrounded the recent whereabouts of the right-hand man of Saddam Hussein's oldest son Uday after Iraqi exile groups claimed he had defected last week after disappearing from a hotel in Beirut. The reports circulated for several days before Adeeb Shabaan emerged in Damascus last night and insisted that he was in Syria on an unspecified work trip and had not defected. Mr Shaaban, 47, is officially head of the Iraqi Photographic Association and a Baghdad newspaper editor, but in practice he has for the past five years run Uday's private office and acted as his press officer. He is...

SADDAM HUSSEIN has sent his personal jeweller to Thailand on a secret mission to buy millions of dollars worth of diamonds, prompting speculation that he is preparing to flee or send his family into hiding, writes Jon Swain. Sources with knowledge of the trip revealed that the jeweller travelled from Baghdad to Bangkok via Jordan. They said he bought the gems in the Thai capital in a prearranged deal. “He purchased millions of dollars worth,” said one. This was the jeweller’s second recent visit to Bangkok. Three months ago the sources said that Saddam’s son Uday had sent him to...

Saddam son 'was poised to topple dad' From correspondents in Los Angeles 03-03-2005 From: Agence France-Presse THE eldest son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was plotting to overthrow his father just as US troops advanced on Baghdad in March 2003, journalist Peter Arnett claimed in Playboy magazine. Uday Hussein, known for his ruthlessness and flashy lifestyle, had won the support of the leadership of his father's Fedayeen militia to overthrow Saddam's 35-year rule, according to an advance copy of the April edition of Playboy obtained by AFP. The controversial reporter, who was fired by the US Cable News Network in...

Wed Mar 2, 5:40 PM ET LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The eldest son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was plotting to overthrow his father just as US troops advanced on Baghdad in March 2003, journalist Peter Arnett claimed in Playboy Magazine. Uday Hussein, known for his ruthlessness and flashy lifestyle, had won the support of the leadership of his father's Fedayeen militia to overthrow Saddam's 35-year rule, according to an advance copy of the April edition of Playboy obtained by AFP. The controversial reporter, who was fired by the US NBC television network in 2003 after...

THE eldest son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was plotting to overthrow his father just as US troops advanced on Baghdad in March 2003, journalist Peter Arnett claimed in Playboy magazine. Uday Hussein, known for his ruthlessness and flashy lifestyle, had won the support of the leadership of his father's Fedayeen militia to overthrow Saddam's 35-year rule, according to an advance copy of the April edition of Playboy obtained by AFP. The controversial reporter, who was fired by the US Cable News Network in 2003 after suggesting the US war plan in Iraq had failed, made the claim following an...

MOSUL is the good girl who went bad. Quiet in the early days of the occupation, the violence-ravaged Iraqi city has become a must-win battlefield for our enemies. The terrorists and insurgents will throw all they have left into the fight. There's no mystery involved: Mosul's the decisive point in northern Iraq. Over the long term, the city's vastly more valuable than Fallujah. Insurgent attacks, terrorist bombings and assassinations erupted last autumn and continue on a regular basis. They're not going to stop soon. After Baghdad, Mosul will remain the most bitterly contested Iraqi city in the months ahead. Every...

February 1, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — An Iraqi-American businessman under investigation in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal was placed on an honor roll of former regime thugs by Saddam Hussein's demonic son Uday just months before the war, The Post has learned. Detroit-area real-estate developer Shakir al-Khafaji, who received millions of dollars worth of vouchers to buy discount Iraqi crude in the U.N. oil-for-food program, appeared on an "Honor List" of Iraqis considered most valuable to Saddam that was published by the Uday Hussein's newspaper, Babil, in November 2002.

A videotape found in a pile of documents in Baghdad following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime shows a former manager of the Al-Jazeera satellite channel thanking one of Saddam's sons for his support and telling him that "Al-Jazeera is your channel," the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Sunday.

SHATRA, IRAQ – As Salman Sharif gave the order to open fire, he was certain he was going to die himself. You did not try to assassinate Uday Hussein, the former Iraqi president's elder son and heir-apparent, at point blank range and expect to get away with it. "We knew we had a 1 percent chance of returning alive," Mr. Sharif says today, sitting crosslegged on a carpet-strewn floor as, for the first time, he recounts to a foreign newspaper the daring attack he led. "Strict security made this kind of operation almost impossible." But after months of careful planning,...

I would bet they are glad UDAY and Saddam are gone now huh?!?

Najah Ali: Iraq's little boxing surprise Ten months ago, light flyweight Najah Ali wasn't on the Iraqi boxing team, because there was no such thing. On Aug. 18, the 4'11" 106-pounder in convincing style, 21-7, over a heavily favored opponent, North Korea's Kwak Hyok Ju, who is 5'4". In his first major international fight -- he only has about 35 bouts to his name total -- Ali controlled matters from the outset, leading 9-3 after one round. The shortest man in the Olympic boxing tournament danced around the ring agilely and snuck inside his taller opponent's reach to land...

(Talon News) -- Iraq made its first Olympic appearance in 12 years Thursday when its national soccer team beat Portugal 4-2. While the upset victory on the field was sweet, the players reveled in the knowledge that they would not be tortured upon their return to Iraq. Saddam Hussein's son, Uday was the director of Iraq's Olympic committee. Players who performed poorly were often subjected to brutal torture and long imprisonment. But none of those painful memories or the dangerous situation that still exists in Iraq was evident as the upstarts defeated a team considered to be a contender for...

BAGHDAD -- Carrying the symbolic dreams of a new Iraq on her shoulders, Ala'a Hikmat sprints around a garbage-strewn dirt track during her evening practice, hopping over a yellow hose-pipe at every turn. The 19-year-old runner from Baghdad, the only woman in Iraq's 45-member delegation to Athens, will compete at the Olympics next month against a vastly faster field in the women's 100- and 200-meter races. She doesn't expect to win. But her path to the Olympics -- and the exceptional cheer and optimism she's brought to bear on a year of frustrating training in an uncertain war zone --...

Recently translated documents captured by U.S. forces provide new evidence of a direct link between Saddam Hussein's regime and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. Rosters of officers in Saddam's Fedayeen list Lt. Col. Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, who was present at the January 2000 al-Qaida "summit" in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at which the 9-11 attacks were planned, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Fedayeen was the elite paramilitary group run by Saddam's son Uday, which was deployed to do much of the regime's dirty work. The U.S. has never been sure Shakir was at the Kuala...

Can someone find me the link to the video described here.. http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030630-113739-5041r.htm i saw it last week and for the life of me i cant find it i been searching for 45 minutes now help plz :) Video shows torture of prisoners overseen by Saddam's half brother By Paul Martin THE WASHINGTON TIMES BAGHDAD — A graphic video to be broadcast today shows Saddam Hussein's half brother, ousted Interior Minister Watban Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, exhorting his police officers as they beat and torture prisoners. "Go on, go on," Hasan tells his khaki-clad ministry police as they repeatedly slash prisoners with...

Unconventional Combat by Williamson Murray and Robert Scales, Jr. Battle Plan Under Fire homepage The tip came late Monday evening on July 21, 2003. The young sergeant, an intelligence specialist with the 101st Airborne Division, had spent the day interviewing a string of Iraqis. They had filtered into his command post with bits and pieces of information, most of little consequence. This particular Iraqi, however, seemed different and triggered the sergeant's training and instincts. As the Iraqi's eyes flicked nervously about the room, he whispered that he knew where Saddam's sons were hiding—in plain sight at a distant cousin's house...

CAIRO, July 25 – The U.S. decision to allow TV journalists to film the bodies of what it says of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's two sons was harshly criticized by law experts, human rights advocates and media specialists Friday, July 25. "The release of the bodies in public acts in contravention of the Second Geneva Convention, which provides protection to the war casualties," international law professor in Cairo university Abdulla Al-Ashaal told IslamOnline.net. "The Convention stipulated that war deaths should not be mutilated," Ashaal said. Expected Outrage In the Arab world, moral prospective of releasing dead bodies in a...

<p>There must be a temptation, when confronted with the Dantesque scenes from Fallujah, to surrender to something like existential despair. The mob could have cooked and eaten its victims without making things very much worse. One especially appreciated the detail of the heroes who menaced the nurses, when they came to try and remove the charred trophies.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — Two sons of Saddam Hussein escaped to Syria after the U.S. invasion of Iraq a year ago but were ultimately expelled by the Syrian regime, former and current Bush administration officials say.</p> <p>U.S. forces killed Uday Hussein, right, and his brother Qusay, shown here in 2001, on July 22.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The informant who helped lead the U.S. military to ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's two sons has been paid most of a $30 million reward for the tip-off, the State Department said on Saturday. "The informant who gave us information on the whereabouts of Uday and Qusay Hussein has been paid the bulk of the reward within the last couple of days, and has control over payment of the balance of the reward," said State Department spokeswoman Joanne Moore. "The informant and his family have been relocated." Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed in a firefight with...