New York: "It is difficult being in the family of Hussein. People want to kill us,"
Uday, son of Saddam Hussein, wrote to an uncle in 1990 in a letter which a weekly
says was found in Uday's palace in Baghdad.
In a 1990 letter, Uday says that his father plans to create a Greater Iraq that
includes Kuwait, Palestine and Arabstan, a region of Iran historically controlled by
Baghdad. The note says Saddam Hussein is beginning with the easiest - Kuwait, 'Time'
magazine said on April 14.
The palace, in the Baghdad suburb of Karada, it said, was not Uday's main residence
but rather a safe house where he could hide out, as well as, according to a
neighbour, a "love nest", to which Uday would bring his many
girlfriends.
"There is nothing in my heart towards my father, not any love or kindness. In the
end I ask God to keep his house safe," Uday wrote, according to 'Time'.
An official letter found in the palace signed by Uday and countersigned by seven
witnesses, the magazine said, notes that well-known Opposition Shiite leader Thafer
Mohammed Jaber was captured on September 3, 1995, and was being kept in one of
Saddam's palaces. Jaber, say local Iraqis, has not been heard from
since.
Among other items found in the palace were videos 'License to Kill' (two
copies), 'Like Father Like Son' and 'Loose Cannons', receipts from Uday's 1989 New
Year's party which included 12 bottles of gin, 11 cases of beer, vodka, champagne
and Pepsi.
A love letter kept by Uday, with a lipstick kiss, writes, "Remember me when you
listen to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, which I heard for the first time with
you."
'Time' says its correspondent also found instructions for a "health diagnostics" HIV
test. Other documents show that in 1989 Uday bought a red Lamborghini Countach from
a Kuwaiti dealer and sent a letter asking about a Ferrari that turned up in
Jordan. "Is it still there?" he wanted to know.
Also found were charred corners of 100 and 50 Dollar bills. "He used to light cigars
with them," a neighbour was quoted as saying.
After American forces entered Iraq, people looted his lavish three-storey riverside
home down to its marble walls.
The looters, 'Time' says, took everything they could, including fuses from the fuse
boxes. But they left documents that the magazine says paint a colourful portrait of
the unhappy eldest son of Saddam, who hasn't been seen since reportedly entering the
restaurant obliterated by US bombs in the al-Mansur neighbourhood.
Snapshots found in the remains of a darkroom show him fishing with friends, riding a
motorbike in a black leather jacket, posing with pet lions and hanging out in shorts
and a cowboy hat, 'Time' said.
And then there is Uday's university transcript from 1988, the year he was awarded a
Degree in Civil Engineering.
"He ranked 1st in a class of 174 students," the transcript reads before detailing
his grades: excellent in every subject, except Physical Training and First Aid, in
which he was satisfactory, the highest grades offered for such courses.
Uday's expensive tastes, 'Time' says, weren't confined to cars and booze. A 1980
certificate from a Swiss dealer indicates that Uday owned a solid-gold watch
with "54 full-cut fine diamonds".
PTI
