THEY
were the Brothers Grim. Saddam's ultimate germs in the war he waged on
his own people. The nastiest biological weapons formed from his own
genes.
Uday, taller than father. Bulging eyes, perma-stubble. Part thug, part village idiot.
Qusay,
the younger, shorter than Daddy, mirroring him in shirt, tie, jacket
and moustache. The quiet one. The boy who would, his fingers crossed,
inherit a murderous mantle. It hadn't always been that way.
Uday,
who turned 39 last month, was once most favoured son. But his sadism,
uncontrollable delight in suffering and debauchery, an insatiable
sexual and material greed, eventually made even his father pale.
For the last few years, that mantle slowly, inexorably passed to 35-year-old Qusay.
Uday, brash, expansive, drunken, raging. Qusay, scheming, organising, ruthless.
If
ever the sins of the father were visited — and remained — upon the
sons, these boys were the perfect example. They were their father —
split in two, but not asunder.
Uday
was the Mafia boss, the tribal robber stacking billions of dollars from
sanction-busting. The controller who ran Iraq's television, radio and
newspapers.
Then Qusay again. Head of Saddam's terror apparatus. Capo of military intelligence and secret police.
I
met Uday once. It was 1983 and he was a teenager. While I waited to
interview his father, the noisy, stubbled, adolescent twiddled a Cuban
cigar while constantly scratching his groin.
The same groin which, in 1998, received two of the eight bullets in an assassination attempt. It rendered him impotent.
Despite being sexually inadequate, he celebrated his survival by attending the fancy Jadriyah Equestrian Club.
Scanning
the crowd with his binoculars he spied a pretty 14-year-old girl
sitting with her father, an ex-provincial governor, her mother and her
younger brother and sister.
The girl's fate was sealed. Uday's bodyguards bundled her off. She was raped. The girl's father complained. Uday stopped that.
He told the man to bring his daughter and 12-year-old sister to the next party. Refuse and he would die. The man gave up both.
Falaqa — punishment. That is the word both brothers use for their retributions.
Qusay
rounding up hundreds of men, women and children from Saddam City,
Baghdad's focus of opposition in 1991 — killing many himself for
"non-cooperation".
Daddy pouring petrol over 40 of Uday's cars and torching them ....falaqa.
It is claimed that Uday speculated about the downfall of his father. What would he do?
"Easy," he allegedly said, "I have money. I would buy an island and live like a king."
"Hmmm," his brother replied, "If Saddam goes, I go. And if Saddam goes, nothing will save either one of us."
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