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CNN Sunday Morning

Profile of Saddam Hussein's Sons

Aired October 27, 2002 - 08:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush continues calling for a regime change in Iraq. Since coming to power in 1979, Saddam Hussein has ruled with an iron hand. One recent article likens the Iraqi leader and his two grown sons to the Corleone family from the famous "Godfather" movie series. The oldest son, like Sonny, reckless, violent, oversexed; the younger son, like Michael, calmer, colder, perhaps more dangerous. CNN's Christiane Amanpour profiles the two heirs apparent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For years in Baghdad's Byzantine labyrinth of power this man was favored to succeed his father, Uday Saddam Hussein, first son of the Iraqi president. But assassins nearly killed Uday in 1996. He was visited by his father in the hospital, and shortly afterwards CNN interviewed Uday about being heir apparent. This was his ominous reply.

UDAY HUSSEIN, SADDAM HUSSEIN'S SON (through translator): If that was not a question from you, from a foreigner, the person who spoke like that, even as a form of praise, would be questioned or punished.

AMANPOUR: Ruthless, violent and unprofessional. That's how former associates and others describe Uday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one in Iraq is worse than Saddam Uday, even his father. No one. You know, and you know, this is very natural, because he is so mean and so greedy. He uses cruelty to amuse himself.

AMANPOUR: Abbas Al-Jinabi (ph) man worked for Uday for 15 years before defecting to the U.K. in 1998. As press secretary and private secretary, Jinabi (ph) had unusual access.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is so aggressive, and everybody knows that one day he killed his father's servant, and everybody knows one day that he shot his uncle, his own uncle.

AMANPOUR: Uday's sexual exploits are legendary, too. He is said to have taken women from their husbands, or fiances and families, and violently abused them.

LATIF YAHIA, AUTHOR, "I WAS SADDAM'S SON": Uday, everything is public. Everyone knows what he is doing, how he raped, how he stolen, how he do -- how he picks up the girls, and just his life is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you know, with the sex and drinking, and this is his life.

AMANPOUR: Latif Yahia claims to have worked as Uday's official body double, from 1987 to 1991. Iraqi officials and other dissidents deny his story, but this is not in dispute: In 1990, Yahia used the resemblance to travel to Kuwait and steal expensive cars. He said on Uday's orders. Baghdad said he was an impostor, and made him confess on television.

But Jinabi (ph), who was on Uday's official payroll, testifies to Uday's taste for dollars and corruption.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wherever you go, in any ministry, he has some people there, to facilitate his, you know, whatever he wants.

AMANPOUR: Jinabi (ph) says Uday has raked off hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes and commissions on everything from contracts with the U.N. Oil for Food program designed to help the Iraqi people, to cigarettes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has an empire, in fact, inside the regime. Nobody can touch it.

AMANPOUR: Jinabi (ph) says he finally defected when Uday accused him of cheating on a cigarette deal that he was negotiating for him.

Saddam Hussein allows Uday to wield power through his newspapers and TV stations and as the head of a militia called Saddam's Fedain (ph). But he was gradually replaced as favorite son and heir apparent by his younger brother, Qusay, who controls the security organization that keeps Saddam Hussein in power.

While Qusay is less showy, he, too, is known to be ruthless, having led the liquidation of hundreds of dissidents during the uprisings against Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War in 1991.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is very cruel on the opposition. Anybody who opposes his regime, his father's regime, you know. He has -- he will not hesitate a minute, you know, a second, to kill him.

AMANPOUR: Jinabi (ph) believes the son could mobilize up to 6,000 men to defend his father should the regime come under attack again.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 27, 2002 - 08:50   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush continues calling for a regime change in Iraq. Since coming to power in 1979, Saddam Hussein has ruled with an iron hand. One recent article likens the Iraqi leader and his two grown sons to the Corleone family from the famous "Godfather" movie series. The oldest son, like Sonny, reckless, violent, oversexed; the younger son, like Michael, calmer, colder, perhaps more dangerous. CNN's Christiane Amanpour profiles the two heirs apparent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For years in Baghdad's Byzantine labyrinth of power this man was favored to succeed his father, Uday Saddam Hussein, first son of the Iraqi president. But assassins nearly killed Uday in 1996. He was visited by his father in the hospital, and shortly afterwards CNN interviewed Uday about being heir apparent. This was his ominous reply.

UDAY HUSSEIN, SADDAM HUSSEIN'S SON (through translator): If that was not a question from you, from a foreigner, the person who spoke like that, even as a form of praise, would be questioned or punished.

AMANPOUR: Ruthless, violent and unprofessional. That's how former associates and others describe Uday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one in Iraq is worse than Saddam Uday, even his father. No one. You know, and you know, this is very natural, because he is so mean and so greedy. He uses cruelty to amuse himself.

AMANPOUR: Abbas Al-Jinabi (ph) man worked for Uday for 15 years before defecting to the U.K. in 1998. As press secretary and private secretary, Jinabi (ph) had unusual access.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is so aggressive, and everybody knows that one day he killed his father's servant, and everybody knows one day that he shot his uncle, his own uncle.

AMANPOUR: Uday's sexual exploits are legendary, too. He is said to have taken women from their husbands, or fiances and families, and violently abused them.

LATIF YAHIA, AUTHOR, "I WAS SADDAM'S SON": Uday, everything is public. Everyone knows what he is doing, how he raped, how he stolen, how he do -- how he picks up the girls, and just his life is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you know, with the sex and drinking, and this is his life.

AMANPOUR: Latif Yahia claims to have worked as Uday's official body double, from 1987 to 1991. Iraqi officials and other dissidents deny his story, but this is not in dispute: In 1990, Yahia used the resemblance to travel to Kuwait and steal expensive cars. He said on Uday's orders. Baghdad said he was an impostor, and made him confess on television.

But Jinabi (ph), who was on Uday's official payroll, testifies to Uday's taste for dollars and corruption.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wherever you go, in any ministry, he has some people there, to facilitate his, you know, whatever he wants.

AMANPOUR: Jinabi (ph) says Uday has raked off hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes and commissions on everything from contracts with the U.N. Oil for Food program designed to help the Iraqi people, to cigarettes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has an empire, in fact, inside the regime. Nobody can touch it.

AMANPOUR: Jinabi (ph) says he finally defected when Uday accused him of cheating on a cigarette deal that he was negotiating for him.

Saddam Hussein allows Uday to wield power through his newspapers and TV stations and as the head of a militia called Saddam's Fedain (ph). But he was gradually replaced as favorite son and heir apparent by his younger brother, Qusay, who controls the security organization that keeps Saddam Hussein in power.

While Qusay is less showy, he, too, is known to be ruthless, having led the liquidation of hundreds of dissidents during the uprisings against Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War in 1991.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is very cruel on the opposition. Anybody who opposes his regime, his father's regime, you know. He has -- he will not hesitate a minute, you know, a second, to kill him.

AMANPOUR: Jinabi (ph) believes the son could mobilize up to 6,000 men to defend his father should the regime come under attack again.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com