Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) February 26, 2003
THE TARGET; SADDAM HUSSEIN'S LIFE
Saddam was born April 28, 1937, the son of a poor farmer in a small village near Tikrit, a town on the Tigris River about 100 miles north of Baghdad. His father died before his son's birth and Saddam was raised by an uncle.
He has a tattoo on his right hand, three dark-blue dots in a line near the wrist, which is one given to village children when they are only 5 or 6 years old as a sign of their tribal roots.
In his teenage years, Saddam immersed himself in the anti-British and anti-Western atmosphere of the day. At college in Baghdad he joined the Baath Party, part of a movement that aims for Arab unity.
In 1957, he joined the anti-royalist Arab Baath (Renaissance) Socialist Party - originally founded in the 1940s in Damascus - and was active in its militia.
In 1959, Saddam was arrested, along with a small group of Baath party members, for his role in the assassination attempt that wounded Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qasim. Saddam fled to Syria and then to Egypt under the protection of President Abdel Nasser, where he studied law in Cairo.
He returned to Iraq in 1963 and started moving up in the hierarchy of the Baath Party, which had split between its Syrian and Iraqi wings. The party was overthrown the next year and he was imprisoned until 1966.
In 1968, he helped lead a revolt by organizing and expanding Baath party militia that kept control of the streets and brought the Baath back to power under Gen. Ahmed Hassan Bakr. Saddam became vice president of the Revolution Command Council. Although he had never been a soldier, He served in the Iraqi armed forces with the rank of lieutenant general from 1973 to 1976. After becoming president in 1979, he immediately had murdered dozens of government officials he suspected of disloyalty.
For more than two decades Saddam has clung to power, surviving bloody wars and rebellion in his nation and even within his own family. Saddam has relied on sheer bullying to maintain his grip on the Iraqi people.
In elections held in October 2002, voters re-elected Saddam for seven more years, declaring that he won a 'unique' 100 percent of 11.4 million votes.
In July 1999, Forbes magazine had estimated Saddam Hussein's personal wealth at $6 billion, acquired primarily from oil and smuggling.
He married his first cousin, Sajida, in 1963. He has two sons and three daughters, all in their 30s.
The search for weapons
Nov. 8, 2002 - U.N. Security Council passes Resolution 1441 calling for resumption of weapons inspections.
Nov. 15 - Iraq accepts terms of U.N. resolution.
Nov. 27 - U.N. inspectors begin work in Iraq.
Dec. 7 - Iraq delivers 12,000-page declaration and asserts it no longer has weapons of mass destruction or the means to deliver them.
Dec. 13 - Inspectors held up for two hours at infectious disease center.
Dec. 19 - Inspectors are delayed up to 20 minutes getting into military guest house north of Baghdad.
Dec. 27 - Inspectors interview Iraqi scientist linked to possible nuclear program.
Jan. 14, 2003 - Secretary-General Kofi Annan states his opposition to military action against Iraq without Security Council approval.
Jan. 16 - Inspectors find 11 empty chemical warheads and a 12th warhead that requires further evaluation.
Jan. 27 - Chief U.N. arms inspector Hans Blix reports that Baghdad has not genuinely accepted the U.N. resolution demanding that it disarm; Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, reports no evidence so far of Iraq reviving its nuclear program and asks for additional months for teams to complete search.
Jan. 29 - Security Council convenes to discuss weapons inspectors' report and to present members' position.
Feb. 14 - Chief weapons inspectors present updated assessment to Security Council on Iraqi cooperation.
Feb. 24 - United States, Britain and Spain introduce a new resolution referring to previous resolutions on Iraq and calling for military enforcement of Resolution 1441. France, Germany and Russia introduce a memorandum asking that inspectors be given another five months.
The Iraqi opposition
The United States has started meeting more frequently with strong and influential Iraqi opposition groups. Many of the groups are not organized strictly along ethnic or religious lines, but Kurdish and Shiite groups do have greater concentrations in specific regions.
The Iraqi National Congress, an umbrella group, and its affiliates have received about $18 million from the U.S. since 1998, according to the State Department.
Groups that have met recently with Bush administration officials:
IRAQI NATIONAL CONGRESS
Founded: 1992
Leader: Ahmad Chalabi, a Shiite Muslim.
Political umbrella organization for Iraqi opposition, based in London after being expelled from Iraq in 1996. Since 1998, the U.S. has made the group a leading vehicle to foster opposition to Saddam Hussein.
PATRIOTIC UNION OF KURDISTAN
Founded: 1975
Leader: Jalal Talabani
Strength: 15,000, according to military analysts. Based in the eastern half of northern Iraq, and sharing a border with Iran, it has maintained a lasting rivalry with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, but it recently signed a pact with them, seeking to resolve their lingering disputes.
Strength: 15,000 - 25,000, according to military analysts. Based in the western portion of northern Iraq. In 1996, the party invited the Iraqi government to help rout the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
KURDISTAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Founded: 1946; Leader: Massoud Barzani
Strength: 15,000 - 25,000, according to military analysts. Based in the western portion of northern Iraq. In 1996, the party invited the Iraqi government to help rout the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
SUPREME COUNCIL FOR ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IN IRAQ
Founded: 1982
Leader: Muhammad Bakr al-Hakim
Strength: Up to 8,000, according to military analysts. Based in Tehran with offices in London, it concentrates its activities in Shiite-dominated southern Iraq. It is made up of exiled members of Iraq's Shiite community (Shiites make up about 60 percent of Iraq's Muslim population). It claims an army based in Iran and guerrilla and militia groups in Iraq. It wants Iraqis to carry out any overthrow, but it is cooperating with American efforts.
IRAQI NATIONAL ACCORD
Founded: 1990
Leader: Ayad Allawi
Strength: Unknown. Composed of defectors from Iraqi military and security services, the group was involved in a 1996 coup attempt. It has operated from London and Amman, Jordan, and according to administration officials, the CIA has had links with the group because of its intelligence network inside Iraq.
CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY MOVEMENT
Founded: After the death of the last King of Iraq in 1958.
Leader: Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein, a member of the old royal family.
Strength: Unknown. Based in London.
Sources: Periscope 'Military Balance' International Institute for Strategic Studies; David Mack, Middle East Institute ; U.S. State Dept.; Congressional Research Service; CIA; Cox News Service; Associated Press; Federation of American Scientists; GlobalSecurity.org; New York Times News Service; United Nations
NOTES:
SERIES: PRIMING FOR WAR;
SERIES: PART 3;
Monday: Iraq, at the cradle of civilization, has been fertile ground for conflict and conquest. The region from Alexander the Great to present.;
* Tuesday: Iraq is a nation divided by religious and class discrimination, controlled by wealth and intimidation.;
* Today: Saddam Hussein has clung to power, surviving bloody rebellion in his nation and within his own family. A look at his life. Page 27A;
* Thursday: The U.S. military believes it maintains an advantage over opposing forces in the face of chemical warfare and urban street fights.;
* Friday: President Bush has sworn to bring the full force of the American military if war breaks. We look at the firepower and how it might be utilized.;
NEXT: TOMORROW PART 4: BATTLEFIELD 2003 / A look at urban warfare, high tech weapons and how our troops are equipped.
GRAPHIC: Photo (5), Color Illustration, Color Map, Ahmad Chalabi, CAPTION: Jalal Talabani, CAPTION: Massoud Barzani, CAPTION: Muhammed Bakr al-Hakim, CAPTION: Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein, CAPTION: Saddam Hussein. TIM WILLIAMS , ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, CAPTION: Locator Map , Area of known weapon use.
Copyright © 2003, Denver Publishing Company
