1 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:08,800 NARRATOR: Evil. 2 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:11,480 Powerful. 3 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:13,640 Uncompromising. 4 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:16,079 Ruthless. 5 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:18,400 Behind closed doors... 6 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:20,320 a private hell. 7 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:21,520 - (woman screams) 8 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:25,880 - Tyrants often deviate in their sexual behaviour. 9 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,320 - He fantasised about older women. 10 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:31,880 - He puts make-up on... 11 00:00:33,160 --> 00:00:34,560 - He had thousands of concubines. 12 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:39,320 They were these glamourous, gun-toting sex objects. 13 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:41,200 - (alarm blares) PA: Fire on designated targets. 14 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:44,800 NARRATOR: The psychological insights of the degenerate and deviant. 15 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:48,840 WOMAN: He was obsessed with aphrodisiacs. 16 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,000 - It is typical of somebody who is sexually repressed. 17 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:55,840 - Power can...change somebody. 18 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:57,160 - (wild cheering) 19 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:06,480 - (rousing rhythmic chanting) 20 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:07,720 NARRATOR: A tyrant, 21 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,920 a fighter and a notorious sexual deviant. 22 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,080 - He wanted to instil fear in the population. 23 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,520 - He was a textbook oppressive tyrant. 24 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:20,280 NARRATOR: Saddam Hussein became 25 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,320 one of the world's most despised dictators. 26 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:25,960 - He was a sexual sadist par extreme. 27 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,640 - All of his sexual fantasies, desires, gratification 28 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:34,840 are entwined with the... a thirst for violence. 29 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,039 - And I think he maintained the mentality of a torturer 30 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:39,360 right throughout his career. 31 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:41,640 NARRATOR: He dropped lethal gas 32 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:43,360 on his own people. 33 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:48,960 - Over 5,000 people were killed: men, women and children. 34 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:50,880 NARRATOR: Murder by day, 35 00:01:51,039 --> 00:01:53,440 before dropping sex stimulants 36 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:55,840 and calling for his mistresses by night. 37 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,880 - He participated in sexual torture 38 00:01:59,039 --> 00:02:01,200 of his victims, 39 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,480 including those who were political prisoners, 40 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,280 as well as the women that he had in his own bedroom. 41 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:09,960 - His world view was completely shaped by his belief 42 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:14,400 that he was the greatest person in the world 43 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,120 and nothing short of an invasion 44 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,680 to capture him in the end was going to stop him. 45 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:30,320 NARRATOR: Baghdad, Iraq. 46 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:35,120 The love story of Zabibah And The King plays out on stage. 47 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,400 The searing romance is based on a novel 48 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,240 written by one Saddam Hussein, 49 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,960 perhaps to impress his mistress of 30 years Parisoula Lampsos. 50 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:55,480 - It's quite amusing to people, if it wasn't so horrendous, 51 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:57,640 that Saddam Hussein would write, 52 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,120 or at least ghost-write, a romantic novel, 53 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,040 because he was the antithesis of everything 54 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,080 a normal romantic hero would be. 55 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,120 NARRATOR: Who was this Iraqi enigma? 56 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:15,400 Romance novelist, sadistic killer, 57 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,760 kingpin on the wrong side of the global war on terror. 58 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:21,680 - (speaks Arabic) 59 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,440 INTERPRETER: I am the helpless... 60 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,240 I am helpless citizen of the Middle East. 61 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:32,920 NARRATOR: For the future ruler 62 00:03:33,079 --> 00:03:35,200 of one of the world's most oil-rich nations, 63 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:38,240 Saddam Hussein had an unlikely start. 64 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,960 He was born in 1937 in Al Awja, 65 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,880 near Tikrit, just north of Baghdad. 66 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,840 - He was a Sunni Muslim... 67 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:57,760 in a country that was predominantly Shi'ite Muslim. 68 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:00,440 He was brought up 69 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:04,000 in a fairly poor family 70 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,160 and joined the military 71 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:08,920 as a way to try to move up 72 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:11,360 and make a name for himself. 73 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:15,080 - Saddam's father was a shepherd 74 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:19,920 who either died or abandoned the family before Saddam's birth, 75 00:04:20,079 --> 00:04:23,040 so he never had a true father figure. 76 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:28,640 His mother, in her desperation, tried to abort the child, 77 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:29,880 but when that failed, 78 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,800 she married another man 79 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:35,680 who, according to his CIA profile, 80 00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:37,840 often beat the young Saddam. 81 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:42,200 NARRATOR: But Saddam did find a father figure in his uncle, 82 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,560 an official of the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party, 83 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:47,960 Khairallah Talfah. 84 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,200 He taught the boy to stand on his own two feet 85 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,440 and he railed against the decadent influence of the Imperial British. 86 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,360 - The Baghdad of the 1950s 87 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:08,960 was a real jewel in the crown. 88 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:12,920 It was a beautiful place with ancient temples, 89 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,560 beautiful buildings and it attracted tourism 90 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:17,600 from all over the world. 91 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,680 Not just that - it was a very liberal city. 92 00:05:20,840 --> 00:05:22,720 Women were able to go to work. 93 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:24,760 Young girls went to school. 94 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:26,640 WOMAN: People were free to drink. 95 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:30,440 People were free to cohabitate. 96 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,040 People were free to express... 97 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:37,720 their opinions - politically, religiously, um...so on. 98 00:05:38,840 --> 00:05:41,520 - Now, to an Arab nationalist, 99 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,400 all of this represents "the decadence of the West", 100 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:49,400 which is there to undermine the "pure Arab way of life" 101 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,040 and he would have reacted strongly to that. 102 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,040 NARRATOR: Fuelled by his uncle's hatred of British imperialism, 103 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,720 Saddam was an activist from a young age 104 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:02,440 and he wasn't going to wait for permission to lead. 105 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,200 - If you try to understand Saddam Hussein, 106 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:09,200 you've got to look at his course, 107 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,800 from his... slightly difficult upbringing, 108 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:14,720 the absence of a father 109 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:19,920 and his immersion at a very early age in Arab nationalism, 110 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,560 with this uncle, who was a mentor. 111 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,160 - Especially that his uncle was... 112 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,800 he fought in the battles against the UK in Iraq in 1941 113 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,440 and that has influenced 114 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:33,400 Saddam Hussein's upbringing 115 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:35,840 in terms of looking up to his uncle 116 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:39,200 and looking at Western imperialism 117 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:43,120 as an ideology that needed to be...rid in Iraq. 118 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:46,880 NARRATOR: But unlike his uncle, 119 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:50,320 Saddam had no intention of running for political office. 120 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,440 Power was there to be taken by force. 121 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:59,440 At just 22, he made his move. 122 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,040 - In 1959, the young Saddam Hussein 123 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,640 led a failed assassination attempt 124 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,040 on the Iraqi Prime Minister. 125 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,840 Because it failed, he had to escape the country, 126 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,360 first by horseback 127 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,400 and then swimming across a river, 128 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,280 which gave him a mythical outlook 129 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,600 and the admiration of the Iraqi people. 130 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,360 NARRATOR: The mythology of the foiled assassination plot 131 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:33,640 would later be used to help create Saddam's "cult of personality". 132 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:36,600 For now, however, he was content 133 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,240 to lie low and study law in Cairo 134 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:42,800 until he found his way back to Baghdad. 135 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:47,600 That chance came in February 1963, 136 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:52,240 after the Ba'ath Party overthrew the Iraqi leader Abdul-Karim Qasim 137 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:54,480 in a violent coup. 138 00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:59,120 ARCHIVE NEWSREEL: The historic city of Baghdad, 139 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:02,440 capital of Iraq, has been the scene once more of bloody revolt. 140 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:04,960 For five years, General Abdul Qasim, right, 141 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:07,520 ruled the country by armed might. 142 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:08,720 Now, like many before him, 143 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:11,200 he has fallen as he rose - violently. 144 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:16,040 NARRATOR: The coast was now clear to return to Iraq and take a wife. 145 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:19,680 An arranged marriage to his first cousin, 146 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:21,880 Sajida Talfah, 147 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:25,720 the daughter of his mentor and uncle Khairallah Talfah. 148 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:29,000 It was a calculated move on Saddam's part, 149 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:33,559 designed to shore up his support within the Ba'ath Party. 150 00:08:34,799 --> 00:08:37,960 MARIAM FARIDA: Maybe he had a romantic side to him, I'm not sure. 151 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:39,480 I mean, I'm sure he had... 152 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:42,880 ..exposed some sort of romance, 153 00:08:43,039 --> 00:08:46,040 but you also see that brutal...leader, 154 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,320 the one who is oppressive, 155 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:50,160 so you have that bipolarity 156 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:52,800 in his, in his leadership and in his persona, as well. 157 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,320 NARRATOR: Iraq was free, but by no means united. 158 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,000 ARCHIVE: For a brief time, Iraq's three peoples, 159 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,720 the Kurds, the Shi'ia and the Sunni, shared power, 160 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:05,800 but there followed a series of coups 161 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:07,840 and then, in 1969, 162 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,880 the Arab Nationalist Ba'athist Party took over for good. 163 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:16,080 NARRATOR: Saddam Hussein's cousin Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr 164 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:17,840 became President, 165 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,480 with Saddam as his unofficial deputy. 166 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:24,280 - He was also extremely ambitious 167 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:28,840 and when he came close to power, 168 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,560 he proved to be absolutely ruthless. 169 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:36,440 NARRATOR: Not only ruthless, but also, 170 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:38,520 as he ascended closer to power, 171 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:40,960 an increasingly roving eye. 172 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:46,080 In 1968, the then 31-year old married Saddam 173 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:48,520 attended a dinner in Baghdad 174 00:09:48,680 --> 00:09:50,720 and was besotted by the daughter 175 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:52,400 of his host's neighbour. 176 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:55,960 She had jumped the fence to join the gathering. 177 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:59,360 Parisoula Lampsos was only 16, 178 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:01,320 a Greek businessman's daughter. 179 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:04,080 It's said they danced cheek to cheek 180 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:06,440 to Frank Sinatra's Strangers In The Night. 181 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:10,480 The Butcher of Baghdad would meet with Parisoula 182 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:12,400 for at least three nights a week 183 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:17,040 for the next 33 years of war and suffering. 184 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:23,280 By 1979, 185 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:25,960 Saddam Hussein had risen through the ranks, 186 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:30,560 from Ba'athist hitman to President of the Republic of Iraq. 187 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:33,120 - Saddam Hussein wanted to portray himself 188 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:34,920 as the father of the nation, 189 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:37,360 father of the Iraqis and the Iraqi nation 190 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:40,040 and he often used narratives and propaganda 191 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,200 that, um, supported that story. 192 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:47,520 He saw himself as the natural leader of the Arab world. 193 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:53,080 NARRATOR: By the time he became President, he had five children. 194 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:55,880 Two sons, Uday and Qusay, 195 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:58,840 who would later become as infamous as their father, 196 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:03,720 and three daughters, whom he married off to prominent political allies. 197 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:07,160 Soon after becoming President, 198 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:10,240 it's believed he had multiple mistresses, 199 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:12,760 including Parisoula Lampsos. 200 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:18,000 When he wasn't gratifying himself in the bedroom, 201 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:21,280 he was ruthlessly cementing his grip on power 202 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:24,160 and eliminating his enemies. 203 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:30,440 On the 22nd of July 1979, 204 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:33,680 just one week after he became President, 205 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:38,000 Saddam Hussein called his party members to a special meeting. 206 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:41,880 As their new leader arrives, 207 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:45,680 those attending think it will be business as usual. 208 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:51,080 But Saddam is about to reveal his true intentions. 209 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:56,200 Saddam's deputy announces 210 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:58,240 that there are traitors in the audience, 211 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,320 members disloyal to their new leader. 212 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,400 One by one, their names are read out. 213 00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:12,080 - (reads out names in Arabic) 214 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:19,000 NARRATOR: One by one, the accused are ushered out, 215 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:21,800 never to be seen again. 216 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:29,280 - In 1979, Saddam Hussein staged 217 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:33,600 a very public - in fact, televised - purging 218 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:35,600 of his political party. 219 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,320 The images of him sitting on a stage, smoking a cigarette, 220 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:42,040 while names are called of party members 221 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,440 who are brought forward... 222 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:46,800 - (names read out in Arabic) 223 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,280 - No-one knowing where they're being ushered, 224 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:57,120 and you talk about top-leadership army...personnels. 225 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,840 You just find them getting ushered out, one after another, 226 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,240 and then, soon after, you realise what's happening, 227 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:05,760 because you can see, even on live television, 228 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:07,960 that people's reactions were starting to look bizarre. 229 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:10,480 People starting to look scared. 230 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,000 You could only imagine what was happening to those called outside. 231 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:15,840 Later on, we realised that they were being shot to death, 232 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,720 while Saddam was just sitting on the stage and smoking cigars. 233 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:23,720 - As the remaining members of the party realise what is going on, 234 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:27,680 this atmosphere of adulation starts to build up, 235 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:32,520 as all of a sudden they are claiming and declaring 236 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:35,080 their support of Saddam Hussein. 237 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,200 MARIAM FARIDA: But I think the grandiosity of it is the performance 238 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:47,640 and to try to create fear amongst those 239 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:50,480 who are even willing to consider the possibility 240 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:52,480 of going against his wishes. 241 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:55,000 It's also known that he... 242 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,360 he even assassinated close family members of his, 243 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:02,000 because he felt that they are plotting against him. 244 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,920 NARRATOR: Murdering members of his own family 245 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:07,640 sent a clear message: 246 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:12,080 "Stand up to Saddam and you won't be standing for much longer." 247 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:16,040 The wives and sisters of opponents 248 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:20,240 learned their President had little mercy for them, too, 249 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:23,320 and a pattern of sexual terrorism was emerging. 250 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:27,320 WOMAN: Hussein was a sexual sadist. 251 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:30,960 He entwined his sexuality with violence. 252 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:36,160 He would use his power, control, over these women... 253 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:38,200 to sexually abuse them 254 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:39,960 and to sexually torture them, 255 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:42,000 but alongside that, 256 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:46,840 it gave him pleasure to instil fear and terror into his victims. 257 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,000 Just like all sexual sadists, 258 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:51,080 this was the only way 259 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,040 for him to receive sexual pleasure. 260 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:58,280 NARRATOR: Yet in public, like so many of his fellow dictators, 261 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,960 he was at pains to present a very different image. 262 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:04,840 - When he goes to visit places, 263 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,800 he often goes on walks 264 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,200 and there's a lot of children around him cheering for him, 265 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:12,400 a lot of women and elderly, 266 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:15,480 and that helped creating and boosting that narrative 267 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:18,080 as being the "father of the nation" 268 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:20,680 and I think he did that on purpose. 269 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,120 NARRATOR: In 1980, fresh from his coronation 270 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:25,640 as undisputed ruler of Iraq, 271 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:30,320 he surprises his family and the nation by taking a second wife. 272 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:33,200 - (chanting) 273 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:35,480 NARRATOR: Totally unrelated but equally surprising, 274 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:40,320 he decides the Ayatollah-led Islamic revolution in neighbouring Iran 275 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:45,200 is a threat to his brand of Arab nationalism, 276 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:49,320 so he flexes his muscles with a pre-emptive strike. 277 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:54,240 Saddam funded his military with oil dollars, 278 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:57,280 but Iran hits back - hard. 279 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:02,160 ARCHIVE: This oil installation at Kut 280 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:06,200 received a direct hit from Iranian planes three days ago. 281 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:11,280 Whilst outside, those who have not fled 282 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:14,000 cower beneath anything that will give them cover. 283 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:17,440 NARRATOR: As the war dragged on, 284 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,600 Saddam relied on the United States for support. 285 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,040 Oil was black gold in the 1980s 286 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:27,800 and the West was thirsty for it. 287 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:31,000 - In 1980, when the war sprang up with Iran, 288 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:35,440 he was supplied or helped by not just the West, but also by Israel, 289 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:37,680 because, of course, at that stage, 290 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,040 the enemy was seen as the mullahs in Iran. 291 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:45,120 So at that point, the West was being good with him, 292 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:46,600 but it didn't last. 293 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:50,920 - Emboldened by that support from the United States, 294 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:52,920 he invaded Iran. 295 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:55,120 The war lasted eight years 296 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:58,720 and was one of the bloodiest conflicts in the Middle East, 297 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:01,520 claiming over a million lives. 298 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:05,079 ARCHIVE: With so many other conflicts in the Middle East, 299 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:07,400 Iran-Iraq has become the forgotten war. 300 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:09,079 - During the course of the war, 301 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,240 he ran Iraq's economy into the ground, 302 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:16,560 ending up owing billions of dollars to oil-rich Kuwait. 303 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:19,599 ARCHIVE: In the capital, huge pictures of Saddam Hussein 304 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:22,599 look down on a city and an economy in deep trouble. 305 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,599 - You've got to look at the other factor of his grandiosity. 306 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:28,920 He just couldn't restrain himself. 307 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:31,880 NARRATOR: Even as the war with Iran dragged on, 308 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:34,360 crippling Iraq's economy, 309 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,840 Hussein built huge, opulent palaces. 310 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:41,840 He released propaganda photos 311 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,080 depicting a happy and homely family life. 312 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:50,280 Years later, however, when US troops stormed one of his palaces, 313 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:54,040 they referred to it as his "love shack", 314 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,600 a labyrinth of mirrored walls, 315 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:00,400 beanbag chairs, lamps shaped like women, 316 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,800 bottles of Cognac and a Jacuzzi. 317 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:08,520 The walls were adorned with seedy, semi-pornographic murals 318 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:10,240 and in the bedroom, 319 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:15,040 American troops found photos - not of Saddam's loving family, 320 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,840 but of his many conquests. 321 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,800 - Saddam Hussein was like all other dictators 322 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:22,800 in that there was a public front 323 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:27,080 and there's what he did behind the public front, in his personal life, 324 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,600 and it was very important that this be kept hidden. 325 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:34,720 The reason, of course, was, it was against his image 326 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,680 as the sort of "father of the nation"... 327 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:41,000 but also, it would have actually made some people 328 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:42,720 step back in horror, 329 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:46,400 so he had to keep it separate and keep it hidden 330 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:49,960 and, like so many others of his kind, 331 00:18:50,120 --> 00:18:52,680 this only emerges after his downfall. 332 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:57,840 NARRATOR: It also became clear Saddam had discovered a new weapon 333 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,160 to keep any Iraqi opposition at bay: 334 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:05,320 the widespread use of torture and sexual sadism. 335 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:08,200 - Hussein was a sexual sadist 336 00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:12,680 and what that means is that all of his sexual fantasies, 337 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:15,040 desires, gratification 338 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:19,400 are entwined with a thirst for violence. 339 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:22,280 For the majority of people, 340 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:25,280 their sexual appetite, 341 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:28,720 their sexual interests, they develop during puberty 342 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:33,960 and if you are... attracted to violence, 343 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,360 this is when that cultivates and culminates 344 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,760 into sadistic tendencies, 345 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:43,120 so it is likely 346 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:48,640 that well before Hussein gained the power that he had, 347 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:54,280 that he was likely participating in various forms of sexual sadism. 348 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:58,480 NARRATOR: Bizarrely, Saddam's mistress Parisoula 349 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:01,520 would write in her memoirs 350 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:03,480 that one of the dictator's favourite pastimes 351 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,880 was donning a cowboy hat, sipping whisky 352 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,720 and smoking his favourite Havana cigars 353 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:11,280 whilst watching torture, 354 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,000 to the musical accompaniment 355 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:16,080 of Frank Sinatra's Strangers In The Night. 356 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:20,920 Small wonder that his sons Uday and Qusay 357 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:25,160 were showing signs of following in his predatory footsteps. 358 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:29,320 - Hussein's sons had... 359 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:33,760 and overindulgent, excessive lifestyle 360 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:39,320 that almost exceeded the sexual conquests of Hussein. 361 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,360 One of his sons, Uday, was rumoured 362 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,240 to have any woman brought to his pleasure dome at any time. 363 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,080 They demanded numerous sexual partners 364 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:54,040 and it's not so hard to recognise 365 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,200 that this is how they viewed masculinity, 366 00:20:57,360 --> 00:21:00,360 that they grew up...their father was Saddam Hussein, 367 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:04,960 so when they became men, they built their sexual lives 368 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:08,400 around these extreme sexual appetites, 369 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:10,920 somewhat thinking that they're normalised, 370 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:15,920 especially that they DESERVE that level of sexual satisfaction, 371 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:18,240 as the sons of the ruler. 372 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,800 NARRATOR: Uday had become a violent sexual predator, 373 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,960 cruising Baghdad night clubs to pick up young women. 374 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:30,280 Those who resisted were kidnapped and dealt with by his bodyguards, 375 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,440 as were any who dared to criticise him. 376 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,120 JOURNALIST: He and the Colonel took us to see the morgue. 377 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:41,080 Kareem says he was told, "Go and find your brothers there." 378 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,160 They were lying in a pile of 50 stinking bodies. 379 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:46,880 Their main crime appears to have been 380 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:50,040 insulting Saddam Hussein's son Uday. 381 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:54,040 NARRATOR: With his country devastated by war and poverty 382 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:57,720 and his sons wildly out of control, 383 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:02,720 Saddam continued his regime of sex pills and sexual liaisons. 384 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:04,360 It was at this time 385 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:07,160 that Saddam Hussein committed 386 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:09,320 his most heinous atrocity. 387 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,480 - (gunfire) NARRATOR: In March 1988, 388 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:17,080 with Kurdish peoples in Northern Iraq 389 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,480 rebelling against his ruinous reign, 390 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:24,360 Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons to quash the unrest. 391 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:26,600 ARCHIVE: A week ago, the Iranians captured it. 392 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:29,720 Within days, they claim, Baghdad ordered it to be destroyed 393 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:31,640 with chemical weapons, 394 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:34,960 even though 50,000 of their own people were still living there. 395 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,920 - Saddam Husseins's murderous regime turned to genocidal 396 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:43,080 when on the 16th March 1988 397 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:47,680 Iraqi forces dropped a lethal mix of gas 398 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:50,000 onto a Kurdish town, Halabja. 399 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:55,960 FEMALE JOURNALIST: Can she say why she fears Saddam Hussein? 400 00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:58,240 - (speaks emphatically in Kurdish) 401 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:02,840 WOMAN: Because Saddam make for her this problem. 402 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,160 - The weapons Saddam's regime used 403 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,360 in the chemical attack in Halabja 404 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:11,520 was a combination of mustard gas and sarin. 405 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:14,320 NARRATOR: Iraq became the first government 406 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,440 to ever attack its own people with chemical weapons... 407 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,000 ..and it remains the largest such attack 408 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:23,640 in human history. 409 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,280 - Over 5,000 people were killed. 410 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,760 Men, women and children. 411 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:32,480 ARCHIVE: The people, the families we found lying all around 412 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:33,640 had not been injured. 413 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,960 They'd been poisoned by chemical bombs and shells 414 00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:39,920 containing cyanide, mustard and other nerve gases. 415 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:44,400 NARRATOR: It was one of the worst atrocities of the modern era. 416 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:47,600 - I think he wanted to set an example. 417 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:50,280 I think he wanted to set a precedent 418 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:55,360 for whatever group wanted to demand change 419 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:58,840 is going to be met with the same brutal response... 420 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,200 and that worked, cos after that 421 00:24:01,360 --> 00:24:05,240 there was no other political demands, 422 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:07,440 no political representation. 423 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,440 It was only Saddam's regime, the Ba'athist regime. 424 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:14,320 - You're always reluctant to put labels on people, 425 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,480 but if you want to use the word "supremely psychopathic", 426 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,400 then there's no doubt that Hussein was...would fit that. 427 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,280 NARRATOR: After the Iran-Iraq hostilities finally ended 428 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:26,760 in August 1988, 429 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:31,840 at the house of Hussein a revelation was about to tear the family apart. 430 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:38,320 Saddam had secretly married his mistress Samira 431 00:24:38,480 --> 00:24:40,960 two years earlier in 1986. 432 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:44,240 When his polygamy became public, 433 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:48,840 Saddam's wife of 25 years, Sajida, was furious 434 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,760 and her oldest son Uday murderous. 435 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:58,600 - At a party held by the Egyptian President, 436 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:01,480 Uday got completely out of control 437 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:03,760 and actually beat a man to death. 438 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,600 That's how bad things were getting. 439 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,680 NARRATOR: The victim of Uday's frenzied attack was no stranger. 440 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,680 He was his father's own bodyguard. 441 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:18,120 - He beats people to death because... 442 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:20,600 I mean, his father kills people 443 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:25,600 just for the mere fact of saying, "We want better life, 444 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:28,000 we demand better living standards," 445 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,040 so why would you think this is an unacceptable behaviour? 446 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,160 But, yeah, even to Saddam's measure, 447 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,680 his sons, Qusay and Uday, were even more brutal than him. 448 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,480 NARRATOR: This was the first public sign 449 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,640 of a family dynasty increasingly consumed 450 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:47,760 by sexual deviancy and extreme violence, 451 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:50,960 but from both father and eldest son 452 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:53,320 there was even worse to come. 453 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:58,320 ARCHIVE: The woman had just handed over £10,000 worth 454 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:00,520 to add to the growing mountain of gold. 455 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,240 Those who forget to donate are visited by soldiers 456 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,080 who remind them of their civic duty. 457 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,960 NARRATOR: While the Husseins continued to enrich themselves, 458 00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:11,720 their people starved, 459 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:15,800 yet Saddam had now all but lost touch with reality. 460 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:19,720 - Saddam Hussein comes to see himself 461 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:23,000 not only as indestructible... 462 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:28,760 ..but also loved by the majority of the people in Iraq. 463 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:33,080 He sincerely believes he IS loved, but... 464 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:39,120 at the same time, he keeps up this threat 465 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,360 and this fear in the population. 466 00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:45,720 NARRATOR: By 1990, 467 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,880 with the country deeply and irretrievably in debt, 468 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:53,520 Saddam responded in the only way he knew how: 469 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:55,640 he accused neighbouring Kuwait, 470 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:58,080 who had helped bankroll his war with Iran, 471 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:00,960 of siphoning off Iraqi oil. 472 00:27:01,120 --> 00:27:03,200 - (speaks Arabic) 473 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:06,320 TRANSLATOR: We said to him that what you are doing to us 474 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,560 was an...an...uh... 475 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:11,000 an act of war. 476 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:14,120 NARRATOR: On the 2nd August 1990 477 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,080 Iraq invaded Kuwait. 478 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,520 Whatever the aim, 479 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:23,600 the United States' response was swift and uncompromising... 480 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:25,480 - (dramatic music) 481 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,440 NARRATOR: ..and other world leaders joined in. 482 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:31,080 ARCHIVE: On the steps of Downing Street tonight, 483 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:32,880 Mrs Thatcher spoke of war. 484 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,640 - The peaceful solution would be 485 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,400 for Iraq to get out of Kuwait. 486 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,760 That is a matter for them. We hope they will do it. 487 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:45,360 If not, we shall have to take the military option 488 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:47,920 and see that Iraq DOES leave Kuwait. 489 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:51,360 - I mean, the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 490 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:55,720 was predominantly one of... Saddam's ambitions, personally. 491 00:27:55,880 --> 00:28:00,960 He saw Kuwait as a significantly smaller country in size to Iraq. 492 00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:04,120 He saw that he is capable militarily to take over, 493 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:05,960 to occupy it and stay there... 494 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:08,360 and control...um... 495 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,080 and he invaded it, in fact. 496 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:13,880 It was, luckily for Kuwait, in that sense, 497 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:19,960 in that time that the US and the West came and aided Kuwait. 498 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:24,440 Otherwise, it would have easily gone into the hands of Iraq 499 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:26,040 and Saddam's ambitions. 500 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:28,880 NARRATOR: But rather than withdraw, 501 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:33,000 Hussein took hundreds of Western foreigners hostage 502 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:36,400 and paraded them to the world as his "guests", 503 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,560 human shields against a Western attack. 504 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,880 ROBERT M KAPLAN: He should never have gone to war against Iran. 505 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:44,400 Because of that war, 506 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:46,080 he was bankrupt 507 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:48,360 and that's why he had to invade Kuwait 508 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:51,920 and then, of course, this time the West was fully against him, 509 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:57,040 so having started off on a possibly good note with the West, 510 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,240 it swung to the complete other side. 511 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,120 - So they realised that they had to stop him at some point. 512 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,960 NARRATOR: On 17th January 1991, 513 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:15,360 a US-led coalition of more than 30 countries 514 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:16,960 crushed Iraqi forces 515 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:21,720 with a massive onslaught of cutting-edge military technology. 516 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:23,360 ARCHIVE: In their opening attack, 517 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:27,000 the Allies combined their stealth and precision technology, 518 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:28,920 electronic warfare tactics 519 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:32,480 and the classical elements of mass and surprise. 520 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,080 NARRATOR: It took just five days, 100 hours, 521 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:38,400 for them to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. 522 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:41,440 US FIGHTER PILOT 1: There's the hit. There's the shock. 523 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,080 US FIGHTER PILOT 2: Oh, yeah! Keep hitting those... 524 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:47,280 Secondaries, quick five secondaries. 525 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:50,720 NARRATOR: But before they retreated, Iraqi forces 526 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:52,600 set the oil wells on fire... 527 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:54,400 - (flames roar) 528 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,240 - ..creating an environmental and economic catastrophe! 529 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:01,120 - Iraq, let's not forget, 530 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:03,640 is the second-largest exporter of oil in the world 531 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,720 and they can easily fluctuate and control the oil prices 532 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,520 around the world, which they did, at some point, 533 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:11,760 and that was unacceptable for the West, 534 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:16,680 so they wanted to have control over these uh...these decisions. 535 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:19,160 NARRATOR: Mistress Parisoula recalls 536 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:21,680 the only time she saw Saddam cry 537 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:24,240 was when he lost Kuwait. 538 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,560 He had gambled on Western apathy 539 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:30,440 and their previous support for him in the conflict with Iran 540 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:32,760 and he had lost - heavily. 541 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:36,400 With the West now calling for his overthrow 542 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:39,400 and his friends in the region deserting him, 543 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:43,240 Saddam Hussein was now a tyrant without teeth. 544 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,280 - But then, you see stories 545 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:49,080 and you see images of Iraqi men and women 546 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:51,880 who are dying on the street after the sanctions, 547 00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:57,840 because of the scarcity of basic food and basic life. 548 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:01,280 Um, you know, there's... there was absolutely nothing, 549 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:03,960 so when there were sanctions on Iraq, 550 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:06,600 it was mainly the Iraqi people that struggled. 551 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:10,200 He maintained, Saddam Hussein maintained his lavish lifestyle. 552 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:11,680 - (clamouring) 553 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:15,160 ARCHIVE: The suffering is far greater than anyone had anticipated. 554 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:17,840 US and Turkish officials now estimate 555 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:21,760 as many as 270,000 Kurds may have fled to that country 556 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,480 to avoid Saddam Hussein's vengeance. 557 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:27,840 NARRATOR: Vengeance, for Saddam, 558 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,360 meant the cruel and prolonged violent humiliation 559 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:33,840 of anyone deemed an opponent. 560 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:40,480 - We're starting to see a systematic use of torture... 561 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:43,040 as a political tool for oppression. 562 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,600 We're starting to read stories 563 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,880 about rape being a systematic tool 564 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:51,720 to create, uh, shame amongst tribes, 565 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,280 to create more...more control over them, 566 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:56,440 to persuade them and coerce them. 567 00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:59,720 - The torture that he inflicted upon women 568 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:06,360 was often associated with rape and sexual violence, 569 00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:11,280 but even men were forced to...succumb 570 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,640 to these sexual... sexually violent proclivities 571 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:20,480 and this included using electric shock on the genitals, 572 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:22,240 it included uh... 573 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:24,840 even emotionally manipulative torture, 574 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:26,640 such as having a woman 575 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,440 that was a family member of the prisoner, the male prisoner, 576 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,840 having a woman come in and be raped in front of him, 577 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,840 in order to instil terror and pain and violence 578 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:42,400 through a... orchestrated rape event. 579 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:45,160 NARRATOR: But Saddam wasn't the only Hussein 580 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,320 who ordered the torture and rape of civilians. 581 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:52,400 In the mid 1990s, Saddam's eldest son Uday 582 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:57,280 raped the 15-year-old daughter of Saddam's mistress Parisoula 583 00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:59,080 in front of her. 584 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:01,760 Despite this, or perhaps because of it, 585 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:04,160 Parisoula remained Saddam's lover 586 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:09,880 and Uday was appointed leader of the paramilitary force Fedayeen Saddam, 587 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:13,120 to try and keep him occupied elsewhere. 588 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:16,000 - (rousing rhythmic chanting) 589 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:19,880 - The sons are modelling themselves on their father, 590 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,960 so they do exactly what he is doing. 591 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:29,800 Also, Saddam Hussein has expectations of his sons... 592 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:32,320 and he is showing the way 593 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:35,040 for how they can control society, 594 00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:37,600 so it's a reciprocal relationship. 595 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,000 NARRATOR: Uday's militia organisation 596 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,040 tortured and killed his father's opponents 597 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:46,760 and reportedly beheaded 200 women 598 00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:48,840 in an anti-prostitution campaign. 599 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,800 MARIAM FARIDA: They are known to be brutal like their father, 600 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,360 but I don't see this as shocking, to be honest. 601 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:58,440 I mean, why would you prep your sons to rule 602 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:00,840 if you don't have that kind of ambition? 603 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,800 NARRATOR: Uday was even known to torture Iraqi athletes 604 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:07,920 who failed to win international events. 605 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:13,520 By 1996, even Saddam thought his sadistic son was going too far. 606 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:19,040 Incredibly, Saddam ordered Uday's assassination. 607 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,560 It failed, but he spent the rest of his life 608 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:26,320 with two bullets lodged in his spine. 609 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,960 As Uday recovered, his father remained leader of a country 610 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,520 now almost entirely dependent 611 00:34:33,679 --> 00:34:37,960 on food and aid handouts from the United Nations. 612 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:40,760 - In political, or... 613 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:43,560 what you might call nationalistic terms, 614 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:45,560 he was a madman. 615 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:50,360 Whether he was clinically insane is questionable 616 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:52,480 and, ultimately, doubtful. 617 00:34:52,639 --> 00:34:57,320 What he certainly was, was an undoubted psychopath. 618 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:04,920 NARRATOR: By 2001, 619 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:07,640 Saddam Hussein was living in denial, 620 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:12,000 clinging onto power by encouraging a siege mentality 621 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,920 in his benighted and bankrupt country. 622 00:35:16,920 --> 00:35:19,000 - (emphatic address in Arabic) 623 00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:20,920 ARCHIVE: The presidential address was broadcast 624 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:24,880 on all Iraq's television and radio channels simultaneously. 625 00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:29,000 Saddam Hussein told his country that the Gulf War, 626 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:31,680 what he called "the immortal mother of all battles", 627 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:36,160 had been a triumph for Iraq over the forces of Satan. 628 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:38,320 - (menacing music) 629 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:41,960 NARRATOR: In September of that year, however, 630 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:43,960 his fate would be taken out of his hands. 631 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:45,680 - (screams of panic) 632 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:49,960 NARRATOR: The world changed over a few horrifying moments on 9/11. 633 00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:51,840 Now it was the West 634 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:53,640 who was seeking vengeance. 635 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:56,560 US President George Bush Junior 636 00:35:56,720 --> 00:35:58,800 declared Iraq a "rogue state". 637 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:02,520 - Saddam Hussein is a homicidal dictator 638 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:06,480 who is addicted to weapons of mass destruction. 639 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:11,080 America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. 640 00:36:11,240 --> 00:36:13,760 We cannot wait for the final proof, 641 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:15,680 the smoking gun... 642 00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:19,200 ..that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud. 643 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:21,960 NARRATOR: Calling out Saddam Hussein 644 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:25,160 for secretly developing weapons of mass destruction 645 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:27,880 was a big call by President Bush. 646 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:31,120 No definitive evidence was ever found 647 00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:34,320 by UN inspectors or American Intelligence, 648 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:39,200 but Saddam himself had continually encouraged the speculation 649 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:42,320 and, having shown he'd been willing to gas his own people 650 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:44,440 and having plotted to assassinate 651 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:47,840 the US President's father, George Bush Senior, 652 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:52,760 he had shown himself to be an implacable enemy of the West. 653 00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:56,320 - It was seen as an opportunity to get rid of him, 654 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:59,440 because for the Bush administration 655 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,920 it was a "now or never" opportunity to get rid of Saddam Hussein, 656 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:05,400 because you have... the pretext is set, it's there 657 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:09,480 in terms of, you know, the popular propaganda: 658 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:12,000 you have the weapons of mass destruction, you have the 9/11, 659 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:15,040 you have harbouring of terrorist networks... 660 00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:18,000 and you have your regional alliances, 661 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,960 such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, 662 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:25,400 who are seeing Saddam as a threat - as an existential threat... 663 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:27,960 ..and it's a weak state now, it's a weak regime, 664 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:29,320 so you can get rid of him. 665 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:33,400 NARRATOR: While his empire continued to crumble around him, 666 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:35,960 Saddam found ways to distract himself. 667 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:39,360 He married a fourth wife in secret 668 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:42,200 and moved his mistress Parisoula Lampsos 669 00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:45,160 into the grounds of his Presidential palace. 670 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:50,880 After 30 years, Saddam didn't even give her the dignity of a name, 671 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:55,600 referring to her only as "Shaqraa" - "the Blonde". 672 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:59,160 - He actually kept her in her own house 673 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:01,560 that is rumoured to be gilded in gold 674 00:38:01,720 --> 00:38:06,480 and she had jewels and all of these extravagant things, 675 00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:10,560 but he...she was only kept there for his sexual interests 676 00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:14,760 and she...erm... felt that she could not leave. 677 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:16,080 She felt imprisoned. 678 00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:19,680 NARRATOR: Lampsos eventually escaped Saddam's clutches 679 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:21,520 and fled to the West, 680 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:24,000 where she wrote her memoirs. 681 00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:27,320 Much of what is known about the tyrant's secret sex life 682 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:29,160 comes from her. 683 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:34,440 - Hussein is known for using Viagra all of the time... 684 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:39,440 and this feeds into his sexual sadism. 685 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:41,080 The sex drive 686 00:38:41,240 --> 00:38:44,520 that somebody that's taking Viagra would have 687 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:50,480 would result in...multiple demands for sexual encounters, 688 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:53,880 but because Hussein was a sexual sadist, 689 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:58,120 this also meant that multiple instances of torture, 690 00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:00,120 pain and violence 691 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:04,320 would also be...demanded by his sex drive, 692 00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,760 so we can see that this relationship 693 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:12,480 between his unsatiated sexual appetite 694 00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:16,160 feeds into his violent nature. 695 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:21,200 NARRATOR: Saddam ignored the West's ultimatums to step down, 696 00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:24,640 so on March 20, 2003, 697 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:28,400 US-led coalition forces invaded Iraq. 698 00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,040 - On my orders, 699 00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:34,760 Coalition forces have begun striking 700 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:37,240 selected targets of military importance 701 00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:40,760 to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war. 702 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:44,600 NARRATOR: In April, US troops entered Baghdad, 703 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:46,360 revealing the full extent 704 00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:48,840 of the wealth and corruption of Saddam Hussein. 705 00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:54,680 Images of the opulence hidden behind the doors of the palaces 706 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:57,040 were shown around the world. 707 00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:00,120 MARIAM FARIDA: Well, then, you look at Saddam Hussein's life, 708 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:02,760 his houses, his castles, his palaces, 709 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,880 his cars - he was... 710 00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:07,560 he was lavishing in gold. 711 00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:09,400 He thinks he built a legacy... 712 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:10,880 with his name. 713 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:12,680 He took ownership of the country, 714 00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:14,880 he took ownership of the Iraqi people 715 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:17,600 and he wanted to continue and maintain that legacy 716 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:20,240 for his...future children, 717 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:23,160 so eventually it will become a monarchy. 718 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:25,600 He was a textbook oppressive tyrant. 719 00:40:26,720 --> 00:40:28,920 NARRATOR: The tyrant was about to be toppled. 720 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:33,960 In July 2003, 721 00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:38,600 US troops killed Saddam's hated sons Uday and Qusay 722 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:41,920 in a four-hour shootout. - (shots ring out) 723 00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:46,320 NARRATOR: Then, in December of that year, 724 00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:47,800 the ultimate humiliation: 725 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:52,720 Saddam Hussein is found hiding in a spider hole 726 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:55,640 near his hometown of Tikrit. 727 00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:57,360 - It's a miserable hiding place, 728 00:40:57,520 --> 00:40:58,920 particularly for a man who built 729 00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:01,680 some of the most ostentatious palaces in the Middle East. 730 00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:04,280 The kitchen was filthy. 731 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:06,240 No palace servants here. 732 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:08,640 NARRATOR: With his reign of terror over, 733 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:13,000 his people were at last free to speak. 734 00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:16,280 REPORTER: This man took reporters to a prison 735 00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:17,960 and showed them the crude tools 736 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:20,720 with which he'd been tortured by Saddam's secret police 737 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:23,400 and the scars they'd left. 738 00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:27,960 NARRATOR: In October 2005, 739 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:29,680 Saddam Hussein was tried 740 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:31,560 before an Iraqi Special Tribunal 741 00:41:31,720 --> 00:41:34,560 for crimes against humanity. 742 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:36,560 REPORTER: The Judge read the charges 743 00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:38,960 against Saddam Hussein and his seven co-accused: 744 00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:42,600 premeditated murder, imprisonment, 745 00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:44,320 forced deportation. 746 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,600 NARRATOR: Finally, in November 2006, 747 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:52,040 Saddam was found guilty of crimes against humanity 748 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:54,120 and sentenced to death 749 00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:56,880 for the murders of 148 inhabitants 750 00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:00,640 of the village of Dujail in 1982. 751 00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:03,120 In reality, 752 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:06,680 deaths at his hands numbered in the hundreds of thousands, 753 00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:10,800 but he and his followers were so adept at destroying evidence 754 00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:13,680 that the Dujail murders were the only ones 755 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:16,440 which could be linked directly to him. 756 00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:19,760 On December 30, 2006, 757 00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:21,920 aged 69, 758 00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:24,360 Saddam Hussein was hanged. 759 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:27,040 He died as he had lived - 760 00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:29,800 violently and defiantly. 761 00:42:31,240 --> 00:42:33,200 - Saddam Hussein has been characterised 762 00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:36,160 as "the madman of the Middle East", 763 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:40,080 but this implies that he was irrational 764 00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:42,680 and uncalculated. 765 00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:44,840 - When you say someone is a "madman", 766 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:48,000 you are instantly saying, you know, 767 00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:52,280 they are irresponsible for the behaviour they create or commit, 768 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:54,440 they are irrational, 769 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:56,200 and hence, anything that they commit 770 00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:58,200 is because of that irrationality. 771 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:01,440 My opinion is, Saddam Hussein was a very calculated man. 772 00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:03,480 He was a very smart man. 773 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:06,560 - He was ruthless. He was meticulous. 774 00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:09,480 We can't just say it was down to madness. 775 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:12,480 Everything, everything was thought about. 776 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:15,480 - (wild cheering and whistling) 777 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:18,920 REPORTER: This act, these images 778 00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:20,920 broadcast around the globe 779 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:23,840 came to represent the end of a cruel dictatorship. 780 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:31,040 - He would be seen as not just one of Arab nationalist dictators 781 00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:33,800 who caused a lot of damage and destruction, 782 00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:36,680 not just to their country, but people around, 783 00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,920 but as someone who had no limits 784 00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:45,600 and, sooner or later, he was going to overextend himself 785 00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:47,480 and the message was from... 786 00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:49,960 the message to history is 787 00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:52,800 that all dictators have their shelf life, 788 00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:54,840 their use-by date 789 00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,040 and he's a classic example. 790 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:01,000 - (melancholy piano melody) 791 00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:32,080 Subtitles by Sky Access Services