Qusay Hussein

Qusay Hussein
Born	Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti 17 May 1966(1966-05-17) Baghdad, Iraq
Died	22 July 2003(2003-07-22) (aged 37) Mosul, Iraq
Cause of death	Killed in a firefight
Resting place	Al-Awja, Iraq
Residence	Iraq
Nationality	Iraqi
Other names	Qusay Saddam Hussein
Occupation	Soldier, Heir apparent
Known for	Relation of Saddam Hussein
Home town	Baghdad, Iraq
Height	5 feet 11 inches
Political party	Iraqi Ba'ath Party
Religion	Islam
Spouse	Sahar 1988-2003,his death)
Children	Mustafa Qusay Hussein al-Tikriti (1989-2003;deceased) Yahya Qusay Hussein al-Tikriti (born 1991) Yaqub Qusay Hussein al-Tikriti
Parents	Saddam Hussein (father,1937-2006;deceased) Sajida Talfah (mother,1937-present)
Relatives	Uday Hussein (brother; deceased)

Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti (Arabic: قصي صدام حسين‎) (or Qusai) (17 May 1966 – 22 July 2003) was the second son of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in 2000.

Family

Qusay's older brother Uday Hussein was viewed as Saddam's heir until he sustained serious injuries in a 1996 assassination attempt. Unlike Uday, who was known for extravagance and erratic, violent behavior, Qusay Hussein kept a low profile. He was married to the daughter of a top ranking military official and had three sons; One of the sons, Mustapha Hussein (born 3 January 1989 in Tikrit), was killed alongside his father in the shootout with U.S. troops. The other two: Yahya Hussein (born 1991) and Yaqub Hussein are presumed alive, but their whereabouts are unknown.

Before the 2003 invasion

Unlike other members of his family and the government, little information is known about Qusay, politically or personally. It is believed that until the 2003 Invasion of Iraq Qusay was the supervisor of the Iraqi Republican Guard and the head of internal security forces (possibly the Special Security Organization (SSO)), and had authority over other Iraqi military units.

Qusay played a role in crushing the Shiite uprising in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War and is also thought to have masterminded the destruction of the southern marshes of Iraq. The wholesale destruction of these marshes ended a centuries-old way of life that prevailed among the Shiite Marsh Arabs who made the wetlands their home, and ruined the habitat for dozens of species of migratory birds. The Iraqi government stated that the action was intended to produce usable farmland, though a number of outsiders believe the destruction was aimed against the Marsh Arabs as retribution for their participation in the 1991 uprising.

Iraqi dissidents claim that Qusay was responsible for the killing of many political activists. The Sunday Times reported that Qusay ordered the killing of Khalis Mohsen al-Tikriti, an engineer at the military industrialization organization, because he believed Mohsen was planning to leave Iraq. In 1998, Iraqi opposition groups accused Qusay of ordering the execution of thousands of political prisoners after hundreds of inmates were summarily executed to make room for new prisoners in crowded jails.

In response to an imminent U.S. invasion, in March 2003 Saddam gave Qusay the order to defend the Baghdad-Tikrit area, one of four military zones of Iraq. On 17 March 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush gave Qusay 48 hours to leave the country, along with his father Saddam and brother Uday, or face war.

Death

House of Uday and Qusay Hussein in Mosul, Iraq destroyed by U.S. forces, July 31, 2003

Soldiers with the 101st Airborne watch as a TOW missile strikes the side of a house of Uday and Qusay Hussein in Mosul, Iraq, 22 July 2003

On 22 July 2003, troops of the American 65th Military Police, aided by U.S. Special Forces, killed Qusay, his 14-year-old son Mustapha, and his older brother Uday, during a raid on a home in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Acting on a tip from an unidentified Iraqi, a special forces team attempted to apprehend the inhabitants of the house. After being fired on, the special forces moved back and called for backup. As many as 200 American troops, later aided by Apache helicopters and an A-10 "Warthog" close air support aircraft, surrounded and fired on the house. After about four hours of battle (the whole operation lasted 6 hours), the soldiers entered the house and found four dead, including the two brothers and their bodyguard. There were reports that Qusay's 14-year-old son Mustapha was the fourth body found. Brig. Gen. Frank Helmick, the assistant commander of 101st Airborne, has commented that all occupants of the house died during the fierce gun battle before U.S troops entered.

On 23 July 2003, the American command said that it had conclusively identified two of the dead men as Saddam Hussein's sons from dental records. Because many Iraqis were skeptical of news of the deaths, the U.S. Government released photos of the corpses and allowed Iraq's governing council to identify the bodies despite the U.S. objection to the publication of American corpses on Arab television. They also announced that the informant, possibly the owner of the house, would receive the combined $30 million reward on the pair. Qusay was the ace of clubs in the coalition forces' most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. His father was the ace of spades and his brother was the ace of hearts.

External links

• Gulf News: Qusay given key role in war plans, 17-03-2003
• GlobalSecurity.org: Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti
• BBC News: Saddam's rival sons, 10 September 2002
• BBC News: Saddam's hated sons, 23 July 2003