Iraq's Key Players and Puppets
SADDAM HUSSEIN
Iraq's ruler since 1979 and its strongman for a decade before that, Saddam
rules through a web of family and clan connections. Born into a peasant family
near Tikrit, he rose to power at a time of Arab nationalist fervor and
governs, on the face of things, through the Baath Party. In 1980, he invaded
revolutionary Shi'ite neighbor Iran, launching an eight-year war that became
the longest and bloodiest in the modern history of the Middle East. In 1990,
he invaded Kuwait. A U.S.-led multinational coalition drove his forces out of
the emirate in 1991, but he survived the war and Shi'ite Muslim and Kurdish
revolts that followed. More than a decade later, he is still there. His official
biography gives his date of birth as April 28, 1937.
QUSAY SADDAM HUSSEIN
Saddam's second son has a key role in Iraq's war plan -- defending the capital
Baghdad and the government power base of Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) to the
north. Born in 1966, he has traditionally kept a lower profile than his more
flamboyant older brother Uday, but his influence mushroomed after the 1991
Gulf War. Today, he controls the elite Republican Guards, the intelligence
services and a special force providing security for Saddam himself, making him
arguably the second most powerful man in the country.
UDAY SADDAM HUSSEIN
Saddam's eldest son and heir-apparent until a 1996 shooting placed a question
mark over his authority within the inner circle. Volatile, with a reputation
for violence and a penchant for flamboyant clothes and fast cars, he was badly
wounded in the attack. His influence goes beyond his modest official titles -
chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee and head of the Iraqi Football
Association. Uday, 39, owns Iraq's most influential newspaper, Babel, and runs
the popular Shebab television network.
ALI HASSAN AL-MAJID
Known to foes as "Chemical Ali", Saddam's feared cousin and hatchet-man earned
his nickname in the 1980s when Iraq used chemical weapons against the Kurdish
minority in the north. Human rights groups accuse him of genocide and war
crimes. A former army motor-cycle messenger believed to be in his early 60s,
he was the military governor of Kuwait after Iraq invaded. As interior minister
after the 1991 Gulf War, he crushed the Shi'ite revolt in the south. Saddam, as
part of his war plan, has named him military commander of southern Iraq.
TAREQ AZIZ
A Christian not linked to Saddam's Sunni Muslim Tikriti clan, this silver-haired,
cigar-smoking former journalist became Saddam's globe-trotting apologist. He
played a starring diplomatic role before the 1991 Gulf War and remains a loyal
and eloquent spokesman. Born near the northern city of Mosul in 1936, his
humble beginnings belie the urbane, worldly image he now projects. His father
was a waiter.
IZZAT IBRAHIM
Saddam's right-hand man and one of the most ruthless enforcers of his rule.
He has survived serious illness and assassins' bullets. Born in 1942 near
Tikrit, his father was an ice seller. Today, he is deputy chairman of the ruling
Revolutionary Command Council. His daughter was briefly married to Uday. Saddam
has put him in command of northern Iraq under the war plan.
TAHA YASSIN RAMADAN
Iraq's vice-president, he is one of the most hawkish members of Saddam's inner
circle. He, Izzat Ibrahim and Saddam himself are the sole surviving plotters of
the 1968 Baath Party coup. A man who rarely minces his words, he was born to a
peasant family in the Mosul region in the 1940s. Exiles accuse him of crimes
against humanity for his role in the north in the 1980s and against the Shi'ite
revolt after the 1991 Gulf War.
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