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Saddam Hussein was once an innocent boy. But the circumstances around his childhood are bewildering. His father died from cancer before he was born. His mother tried to induce Saddam's abortion, and attempted suicide. She refused the child, and the boy was raised by an uncle. Eventually, when he was finally allowed to live with her, the new stepfather physically abused him.
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Hussein in swimming trunks, in an official photo taken by the Iraqi regime prior to his fall. Judging by his relative sveltness and the "Burt Reynolds" fur, this was probably in the 1970s.
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With grandson Ali, son of Ragad (daughter) and Hussein Kamal. In every picture we have seen of Saddam Hussein with a child, one of the two is terrified.
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To avoid inflaming the Sunni Muslim world, instead of an outdoor execution, Hussein was executed in a closed room inside the Green Zone. Paradoxically, in order to inflame the Sunni Muslim world, video was taken of the event. These are screen shots which were broadcast on Arab television.
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A black collar was inexplicably affixed to Hussein's neck.
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In one of this last public statements, Saddam Hussein offered himself up as a "sacrifice" to the Iraqi people. Ironically, his execution occured on the start of Eid, an Islamic holiday celebrating God's mercy when Abraham was willing to put to death his first son Ishmael. God eventually spared Ishmael. That's according to Muslims. It is complicated. Christians think that Abraham's first son is Isaac.
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A photo of Hussein actually hanging has not been broadcast.
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Bruises or abrasions are visible on Saddam Hussein's face. There was much speculation among US television networks as to what they would be willing to broadcast. One network said it would be willing to show a "wide shot." CNN stated that they would probably be unwilling to show Hussein's cadaver. However, when this was debated on the Anderson Cooper show, it was as they were broadcasting footage of gruesome corpses from the Kurdish gassings. D'oh.
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