Saddam fun facts...
Up close, he's orderly, polite and vengeful
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Here are some details about Saddam Hussein, based on reports from government analysts, journalists, academics, Iraqi officials and defectors once part of his inner circle:
PHYSICAL
Height: about 6 feet 2.
Weight: around 210 pounds.
Maladies: A bad back and a limp. He avoids being filmed walking to conceal the limp. He is said to need, but refuses to wear, glasses, so his speeches are printed in large letters, a few words per page. He dyes his gray hair black. He has a tattoo - three dots - near his right wrist.
FAMILY
Married (1958) to Sajida Khairallah, his cousin. He has two sons and three daughters. Reports of infidelity have not been substantiated.
Older son, Odai, 38, who runs numerous committees and news media organizations, is known for violent outbursts and drinking. In 1996, gunmen shot Odai, paralyzing him below the waist. Younger son Qusai, 36, heads the security services and is seen as a likely heir.
In 1995, two of Saddam's sons-in-law defected to Jordan and revealed secrets on Iraq's weapons programs. In 1996, after receiving a pardon from Saddam, they returned to Iraq, where they were shot and killed in their homes.
PERSONAL FILE
Workday: He has been known to put in 18-hour days. At meetings, he is calm and polite; reputed to be highly organized.
Colleagues: In 1982, Saddam asked advice about dealing with setbacks in the war with Iran.
His minister of health suggested Saddam step down until the war stopped, then resume power. Saddam reportedly thanked the minister, then had him arrested.
His body, cut into pieces, was later delivered to the minister's wife.
LEISURE LIFE
Swimming. He typically awakes at 3 a.m. and swims. His palaces and residences have pools.
Television. He follows the Iraqi stations he controls, CNN, the BBC, and Al Jazeera, the Arabic news station.
Movies: He likes movies about assassination and conspiracies. Among his favorites is "The Godfather."
Books: He reads voraciously: Arab and military history; subjects ranging from physics to philosophy. Among his favorite authors is Ernest Hemingway.
Favorite foods: Not a big eater but likes fish. Eats lots of fruit and vegetables.
Libation: Mateus rose.
SADDAM THE AUTHOR
Believed to be the author of "Zabibah and the King" and "The Fortified Castle." "Zabibah and the King," published in 2000, is about a sensitive, benign despot who loves a beautiful woman married to a brutish, vicious husband.
One scene is the rape of the woman, which occurs on Jan. 17, also the day U.S. and coalition forces launched the Persian Gulf War.
The novel defends tyranny in the service of security and is generally regarded as an allegory about the gulf war.
A London-based Arabic newspaper reports that "The Fortified Castle," published in 2001, has not sold well.
Provinces have been told they must meet a sales quota.
Saddam's son Odai bought 250,000 copies.
AMERICAN CONNECTIONS
When he fled Iraq for Egypt in 1960, Saddam, a young Baath Party operative, made several visits to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
In 1968, the United States helped the Baath Party gain power, ousting a government that was leaning toward the Soviet Union.
In 1979, before invading Iran, Saddam is thought to have met with CIA officials in Amman, Jordan.
In 1985 he met with U.S. State Department officials, telling them: "You Americans, you treat the Third World in the way an Iraqi peasant treats his new bride. Three days of honeymoon, and then it's off to the fields."
SADDAM'S WISDOM
"Saddam Hussein: Great Lessons, Commandments to Strugglers, the Patient and Holy Warriors" is the title of a collection of his aphorisms. Among the 57 sayings:
"Don't be attracted to easy paths, because the paths that make your feet bleed are the only way to get ahead in life."
"Keep your eyes on your enemy and be faster than he."
"Don't provoke a snake unless you have the intention and power to cut off its head." |
