Son of Saddam
Sports Illustrated, 3.24.03, Vol. 98, Issue 12"This is my Iraq. Embarrassing Iraq embarrasses me," these are the words spoken by Iraq's head of Olympic committee and soccer federation Uday Hussein, Saddam Hussein's eldest son. The war between Iran and Iraq went on for eight years, killing 100's of thousands of young Iraqis, demoralizing the youths. Saddam thought success in sports would help regain national pride and lift the spirits of Iraq. Uday was placed in power of the Olympic committee in 1984 by his father with the hopes of Iraqi sports being respectable again. After a losing 2-0 in a friendly soccer match between Iraq and Jordan, which had no significance in World Cup standings or rankings, just a chance for teams to practice against another team, Uday took four of the star players to prison. Upon arriving at prison, these players were striped of their shirts, feet bound together with their knees drawn over their heads over a bar lying on their backs. The soccer players were then dragged over pavement and concrete, painfully pulling and
Iraq is ran by a father son tandem that is ruthless and does not think twice about decisions to punish or even execute citizens that speak out or "embarrass" the country. Once sending as many as 50 athletes to the Olympic games, Iraq sent only 4 athletes in the 2000 games. Why? Athletes are afraid to compete for their country because of the repricussions bought on by Uday. Anyone living in the country will not talk about these punishments brought on by Uday for fear of the same fate. I told you to not come home if you didn't win," said Uday, "This is how you box. They were then pulled through a sandpit then made to climb a ladder and jump in a vat of raw sewage, trying to infect their wounds as much as humanly possible. Iraqis live in fear of what the ruler or son will order next, in the US we are honored and blessed to have a government in which a democracy rules. A former coach of the national basketball team has spoken out on these crimes, now living in London, says since speaking out, nine members of his wife's family have been executed since voicing what has happened. Asking the guards how they can possibly carry out these punishments, they simply laughed and said it would be done to them if they refused to carry the punishments out. Bleeding from the face, the boxer was then jolted in the chest by the cattle prod Uday was famous for carrying. Uday Hussein has long been feared by the Iraqi people, by the age of 10 he was accompanying his father to the torture chamber, at the age of 16 he bragged of his first murder after killing a teacher that embarrassed him in front of his girlfriend. The boxer then had his eye brows shaved completely off, the highest insult to Muslim men, the boxer was never heard of again. The following days the prisoners feet were caned, 20 lashings a day, breaking the smaller bones and causing massive swelling, leaving victims unable to walk for some time.
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