Saddam, frustrated step-son of a sadistic peasant, was the deputy of the Iraqi president, number two in a revolutionary regime that modernized the former British-protected kingdom. When his faction of the ruling Baath Party opposes the president's plan for a union with neighbor Syria, Saddam is able to seize power, and immediately proceeds to unprecedented purges, practicing blatant nepotism -especially Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti as security chief- and a reign of terror based on waves of executions of the 'guilty', the lukewarm and some others thrown in for good ...

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1988. Though Iraq is on the brink of bankruptcy, Baghdad is jubilant in victory after the war with Iran. Uday celebrates in a nightclub by getting drunk and firing a gun into the crowd. As Kuwait's upsurge in oil output challenges Iraqi prosperity, a family lunch reveals fractures in Saddam's household, including paranoia that an insider might overthrow him. News spreads that Saddam has taken Samira as a second wife, with grim ramifications. As his family issues continue to grow, Kuwait drives Iraq toward war--and Saddam leads his army into 'the mother of all battles.'

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May 1995. Iraq is crippled by UN sanctions for refusing to comply with weapons inspections. When inspectors are finally admitted, a cat-and-mouse game begins. In charge of the subterfuge is Qusay, Saddam's new successor--a move that infuriates Hussein Kamal. As a Day of Days celebration arrives to mark the anniversary of the victory over Iran, a worried Hussein and his brother cross the border to take diplomatic asylum in Jordan. There, Hussein meets with UN and CIA officials, offering up information on the whereabouts of Iraq's hidden weapons while making claims to ...

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March 2003. As Bush declares 'the day of liberation is near,' Saddam instructs most of his family to flee to Syria; only Uday, Qusay and grandson Mustapha remain. For his safety, Saddam goes into hiding near Tikrit, off the banks of the Tigris River where he lived as a child. As coalition forces flood Baghdad, Saddam remains holed up in a hut, making rallying-cry audiotapes his bodyguard delivers to radio stations. Uday, Qusay and Mustapha hide in a relative's house, but it isn't long before the location leaks to U.S. officials. Later, Saddam senses the net closing in...

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