Qusay Hussein Biography
Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti (17 May, 1966 – 22 July, 2003) was the second son of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in 2000.
Family
Qusay's older brother Uday Hussein was viewed as Saddam's heir until he sustained serious injuries in a 1998 assassination attempt. Unlike Uday, who was known for extravagance, Qusay Hussein kept a low profile. He was married to the daughter of a top ranking military official and had three sons; One of the sons, Mustapha Hussein (born 3 January, 1989 in Tikrit), was killed alongside his father in the shootout with U.S. troops. The other two are presumed alive, but their whereabouts are unknown.
Before the 2003 Invasion
Unlike other members of his family and the government, little information is known about Qusay, politically or personally. It is believed that until the 2003 Invasion of Iraq Qusay was the supervisor of the Iraqi Republican Guard and the head of internal security forces (possibly the Special Security Organization (SSO), and had authority over other Iraqi military units.
Qusay Hussein played a role in crushing the Shiite uprising in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War and is also thought to have masterminded the destruction of the southern marshes of Iraq. The wholesale destruction of these marshes ended a centuries-old way of life that prevailed among the Shiite Marsh Arabs who made the wetlands their home, and ruined the habitat for dozens of species of migratory birds. The Iraqi government stated that the action was intended to produce usable farmland, though a number of outsiders believe the destruction was aimed against the Marsh Arabs as retribution for their participation in the 1991 uprising.
Iraqi dissidents claim that Qusay Hussein was responsible for the killing of many political activists.
The Sunday Times reported that Qusay ordered the killing of Khalis Mohsen al-Tikriti, an engineer at the military industrialization organization, because he believed Mohsen was planning to leave Iraq. In 1998, Iraqi opposition groups accused Qusay of ordering the execution of thousands of political prisoners after hundreds of inmates were summarily executed to make room for new prisoners in crowded jails.
In response to an imminent U.S. invasion, in March 2003 Saddam gave Qusay the order to defend the Baghdad-Tikrit area, one of four military zones of Iraq. On 17 March, 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush gave Qusay 48 hours to leave the country, along with his father Saddam and brother Uday, or face war.
Death
On 22 July, 2003, troops of the American 65th MP CO Airborne, aided by U.S. Special Forces, killed Qusay, his 14 year old son Mustapha, and his older brother Uday, during a raid on a home in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Acting on a tip from an unidentified Iraqi, a special forces team attempted to apprehend the inhabitants of the house. After being fired on, the special forces moved back and called for backup. As many as 200 American troops, later aided by Apache helicopters and an A-10 "Warthog" close air support aircraft, surrounded and fired on the house. After about four hours of battle (the whole operation lasted 6 hours), the soldiers entered the house and found four dead, including the two brothers and their bodyguard. There were reports that Qusay's 14-year-old son Mustapha was the fourth body found. Brig. Gen. Frank Helmick, the assistant commander of 101st Airborne, has commented that all occupants of the house died during the fierce gun battle before U.S troops entered.
The owner of the house where the brothers were killed was granted U.S. citizenship and thereby allowed to depart from Iraq. In what was most likely a revenge attack, the homeowner's brother was killed in 2004 by unknown assassins.
Qusay was the ace of clubs in the coalition forces' most-wanted Iraqi playing cards. His father was the ace of spades and his brother, Uday, was the ace of hearts.
Source: Wikipedia Qusay Hussein page
