Raghad Hussein

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Raghad Saddam Hussein (Arabic: رغد صدام حسين) (born 1967?) is the eldest daughter of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

She was married to Hussein Kamel, a high-profile Iraqi defector who shared weapons secrets with UNSCOM, the CIA and MI6. Kamel was killed, along with his brother, by fellow-clan members who declared them traitors. Saddam had made it clear that although pardoned, they would lose all status and would not receive any protection. Raghad's sister, Rana Hussein was married to Hussein Kamel's brother Saddam Kamel who suffered the same fate.

Hussein Kamel and Raghad have five children.

On July 2, 2006, the government of Iraq national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie declared that Raghad and her mother Sajidah Khairallah Tilfah Hussein were wanted because they supported the insurgency in Iraq. [1] [2] The Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit made a statement that "Raghad was under the royal family's protection" and "The presence of Mrs Raghad Saddam Hussein and her children in Jordan is motivated by humanitarian considerations, She is the guest of the Hashemite royal family (of King Abdullah II) and under its protection as a seeker of asylum" in accordance with Arab tradition. [3]

On December 30, 2006 her father was executed in Iraq. Prior to the execution Raghad asked for her father's body to be temporarily buried in Yemen, until Iraq is liberated.^[1]

[edit] Quotes

"Saddam was tranquillised when captured ... He would be a lion even when caged. Every honest person who knows Saddam knows that he is firm and powerful."

—Raghad Hussein, speaking to Al Jazeera, December, 2003.

"Sadly they are dealing with my father as if he were not human. My father has girls, and his girls have children...so they should consider the human side."

—Raghad Hussein, speaking about humiliating photos of her father that appeared in British tabloids.

"After about midday my Dad sent cars from his private collection for us. We were told to get in. We had almost lost contact with my father and brothers because things had got out of hand. I saw with my own eyes the [Iraqi] army withdrawing and the terrified faces of the Iraqi soldiers who, unfortunately, were running away and looking around them. Missiles were falling on my left and my right - they were not more than fifty or one hundred metres away. We moved in small cars. I had a gun between my feet just in case."

—Raghad Hussein, speaking to BBC Panorama, on her desperate flight from Baghdad.

"They think my father has a lack of concern for human rights, but regardless of details, the Americans should be humanitarian in dealing with his family, because we are human. Saddam has three young ladies and they have children, I have five, Rena has four, and Hala has two. Therefore, our father is very dear to us. His grandchildren love him a lot. Why aren't humanitarian factors taken into account?"

—Raghad Hussein in Jordan