Qusay Hussein

Qusay Hussein (born May 17, 1966, Baghdad, Iraq—died July 22, 2003, Mosul, Iraq) was an Iraqi official who was the second son of Iraqi dictatorSaddam Hussein. He and his older brother Uday were instrumental in their father’s brutal 24-year rule over Iraq.  Although Qusay was considered as ruthless as his older brother, he was more discreet and low-profile than Uday, and therefore less is known about his life.

Qusay studied law at the University of Baghdad and served as deputy head of Saddam’s special security organization, where he was said to have used his power to torture and summarily execute prison inmates and political opponents. After the 1990–91 Persian Gulf War, he crushed a Shiʿi rebellion in southern Iraq, and and he was also reported to have administered the destruction of the ancient marshlands in that region.

Following an assassination attempt in 1996 in which Uday was shot and crippled, Qusay took control of the fedayeen, as well as the elite Republican Guards and the National Security Council. By 2000 Uday reportedly had proved too unstable to retain his father’s trust, and Qusay was then generally regarded as Saddam’s heir apparent. Qusay was also reportedly targeted in would-be assassinations in 2001 and 2002. In early 2003, shortly before the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq, Qusay was believed to have withdrawn nearly $1 billion in cash from Iraq’s central bank. He and his brother were in hiding in a private residence in northern Iraq when they were killed in a shootout with U.S. troops.