Posted on 03/03/2005 2:29:47 PM PST by nickcarraway
Wed Mar 2, 5:40 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The eldest son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was plotting to overthrow his father just as US troops advanced on Baghdad in March 2003, journalist Peter Arnett claimed in Playboy Magazine.
Uday Hussein, known for his ruthlessness and flashy lifestyle, had won the support of the leadership of his father's Fedayeen militia to overthrow Saddam's 35-year rule, according to an advance copy of the April edition of Playboy obtained by AFP.
The controversial reporter, who was fired by the US NBC television network in 2003 after suggesting that the US war plan in Iraq (news - web sites) had failed, made the claim following an 18-month investigation in which he says he gained access to Uday Hussein's inner circle.
The article cited a letter from Saddam Fedayeen commander General Maki Humudat, dated March 26, 2003, in which he swore allegiance to a new Iraqi government under the control of Fedayeen chief Uday Hussein.
"According to your direction and command to form a new government under the leadership of your Excellency (Uday), we have informed all the senior officers of the Saddam Fedayeen of your desire to appoint them as your candidates for office in your government," the letter said.
Uday had planned to announce his seizure of the crumbling reins of power later the same day, but was thwarted when US jets bombed his Youth TV studios in Baghdad, according to Arnett.
The ambitious heir had even formed a shadow government on the outskirts of Iraq's capital, Baghdad that was disguised under the cover of his powerful Olympic committee and funded by murky oil deals, he said.
According to Arnett, the oldest son of the Iraqi dictator had long been chafing under his father's iron fisted rule and blamed his father for the punishing international sanctions on the country.
"Though it has not been reported until now, Uday Hussein was the biggest proponent of regime change inside Iraq," Arnett wrote.
"During the previous 10 years, he had slowly assembled the elements of power -- military, military and political management -- designed to overthrow his tyrannical father," said the reporter who was in Baghdad as US troops approached following the launch of the March 19, 2003 US-led attack.
But, according to the journalist, Uday's coup plan came too late as US-led forces were just days away from the Iraqi capital.
He and his younger brother, Qusay, were forced to flee Baghdad along with their father as the Baath party military machine collapsed ahead of the US seizure of the city in early April.
Uday and Qusay were killed in a blistering battle in the northern city of Mosul on July 22, 2003, while Saddam Hussein was captured alive in his home town of Tikrit in December of that year.
Arnett, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam War reporting and covered the 1991 Persian Gulf War (news - web sites) for CNN from Baghdad, was fired from NBC at the end of March 2003 after granting a disputed interview to Iraqi state television.
In that interview just days before Baghdad fell, he said the US war plan was failing. "Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces," he said.
Well then we shouldn't have gone in to Iraq if Saddam's son was going to over throw him anyway!/lib logic
Like anyone should believe anything Arnett has to say anymore.....
Good grief, which is worse as an authority, Arnet or Playboy.
Is he suggested we didn't need to dump Saddam, that we could have waited for that humanitarian, Uday Hussein, to come to power?
Uday the Rapist replacing Saddam the Brute. What a massive improvelence, dahlin'!
Oh, come on. Who would put this in writing?
Unless the guy planned to show it to Saddam to get rid of Uday.
The one thing they have in common: over-exposed boobs.
Did he mention the torturing...murders...rapes...and other criminal activities both brothers were engaged in. Who would think that a viable option for Iraq would be anyone from that demented family?
Isn't arnett the douche who kept Saddam's crimes under wraps so that CNN could stay in Baghdad?
If so, why does anyone care what a propagandist liar like this has to say?
Finally, even if this were true, can the libs honestly say that Saddam's son would be an "improvement"? LOL
So, his treatment of the players on the national soccer team was just practice.
Uday was a punk compared to his daddy.
SO9
He is a liar's liar.....lies like a rug on the floor.
Peter Arnett could gag a maggot!
First, Arnett is full of crap!
Second. If this were true, then going into Iraq BEFORE Uday had overthrown his old man was the best thing we could have done, considering that his 'human shredding' would probably have increased once he came into power.
And who knows how many more Kurds would have been gassed to death.
We should have let The Rapist topple The Thug. Yeah that's the ticket. Next theory please.
I honestly don't see the point either. One could have argued that Uday was a greater threat than Saddam.
Playboy has articles?
"Playboy has articles?"
LMAO!!!!! ;)
This is so patently ridiculous what could possibly be the point of it.
More crap from Arnett. This is just made up so that those that hate America, opposed the war, and the resulting purple fingers from the election, can now claim they were still right. This is about as credible as his Tailwind story.
Where is Dan RATher for breaking story? Maybe Whorealdo can tell us. Yawn!
Is Uday the really, extremely ugly corpse, or just the average ugly corpse? Never could tell those boys apart, but the Devil likely has them sorted out by now.
So? Arnett is a commie and Playboy can't sell many mags..made for each other
So, according to Peter Arnett, Uday had to destroy the regime in order to save it.
This is supposed to be news?
And no doubt he had plans to have immediate, open, democratic elections. /sarcasm
Well that must suck! We did it for him and then killed him and his brother. /sarcasm
Arnet Artoo Arnet Artoo Arnet, Arnot. Arsnot,!!! How convenient everybody's dead. What a (to quote O'donnel) "A Liar "
To bad we blew the littl F#$% to smithereeens.
Arnett's half right - with all the pressure we were bringing to bear against Iraq, a coup was not unlikely to be in the works. Uday had to be sick of being shunted to run the Iraqi Olympic Committee, and porblably saw Iraq like a 16-year-old sees his dad's car.
But, as many people have already observed here, replacing Saddam would not be enough. Some of what we have heard about Uday makes Saddam sound like Santa Claus. An Uday Hussein government would neither be an improvement of the Iraqi people's plight nor would it be acceptable for us from a national security standpoint to let it get to that point.
He's also a creepy lying liar!
Ha ha ha. What a pathetic joke.
As if he had any credibility whatsoever, the seditious naturalized U.S. citizen Peter Arnett fictionalizes the Iraqi freedom fighter Uday Hussein, who when he wasn't raping women or shredding his opponents or snorting coke, was pondering the deeper meaning of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry.
Uday, we hardly knew ye.
Playboy's articles are as bad as 'The Nation's' anymore. Not even worth the 12 bucks a year it's down to.
>Uday and Qusay were killed in a blistering battle in the northern city of Mosul on July 22, 2003
Screw 'em if they can't take a joke!
Sounds like he was meeting with the enemy.
Just damn.
Uday was even more of a Psycopath than his father was.
And we care about this NON story because?
What is that, Dragon?
Candy Gram.
"According to Arnett, the oldest son of the Iraqi dictator had long been chafing under his father's iron fisted rule and blamed his father for the punishing international sanctions on the country.
"Though it has not been reported until now, Uday Hussein was the biggest proponent of regime change inside Iraq," Arnett wrote."
PLEASE tell me Arnett isn't suggesting that the psychotic Uday Hussein was somehow some closet classical liberal brimming with zeal for democracy and just chomping at the bit to free Iraq and usher in a golden era of democratic governance. And PLEASE don't tell me Arnett is using this to say that the US shouldn't have acted, that Uday was going to do its job for them and overthrow his father bringing Iraq into the family of nations.
The mentally ill Uday Hussein was worse than his father! He was an absolute blood thirsty psychopath who picked women off the street to rape, even taking them in the middle of wedding ceremonies and forcing their husbands to watch, then killing both of them. Uday was known for his love for capricious murders and torture. PLEASE Peter, I hope you're not suggesting that Uday Hussein in power in Bagdhad would have been far preferable to overthrowing the Hussein mafia's hold on Iraq and bringing democracy to the country via US force. If so, you're as deranged as Uday.
I don't believe Arnett any more than I believe Dan Rather.
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