We’re clearly moving into that fog of war phase where a lot of what we hear is going to be misinformation from one side or another. But there’s some interesting information coming out in Kuwaiti press reports about at least some tiny fissures at the highest level of Saddam’s power. In particular Saddam apparently placed his half-brother, Barzan, under house arrest after he refused to pledge loyalty to Saddam’s son Qusay as his successor.
Here is a translation from a reportin Arabic which appeared today in Kuwait’s Al-Ra’y Al-Amm …
The sources said that Barzan was summoned to one of Saddam’s headquarters on 5 March, along with his brother Watban, the former interior minister whom Uday Saddam Husayn shot in the leg in August 1995. In the meeting, which Saddam’s third half-brother Sab’awi was supposed to attend, Saddam talked in length about the current developments. He indirectly expressed willingness to step down in favor of his second son, Qusay, and called on his half brothers to pledge allegiance to Qusay in case he decided to do that.
According to the sources, when Saddam came to Shaykh Zayid Bin-Sultan’s initiative, which was presented to the Arab summit in Sharm al-Shaykh on 1 March, he addressed Barzan saying: “What do you think of what your friend (Shaykh Zayid) has said?” It is known that Barzan had a good relationship with the president of the United Arab Emirates, especially after the Iraq-Iran war.
According to the sources, Barzan remained silent. But when he was asked to comment on the possibility of Qusay succeeding Saddam, Barzan told the Iraqi president: “I tolerated the situation for more than 20 years because you have been there. When you are not there I will act in a different way.” Here the Iraqi president became furious and addressed rude words to his half brother.
…
The sources said Barzan and Watban were probably placed under house arrest because they have recently made moves within the family and among the public to press for reform measures that would lead to change in the structure of the regime. This angered Saddam, who discussed the possibility of his stepping down in Qusay’s favor only to discover the real intentions of his three brothers, who have opposed his policies since the mid-eighties, when Husayn Kamil and Ali Hasan al-Majid began gaining ground. Al-Majid, who was just a driver of the defense minister in the early seventies, became the defense minister and was appointed a governor of Kuwait after the invasion.
The sources noted that Barzan’s eldest son, Muhammad, left Baghdad immediately after his father was taken to Al-Radwaniyah. Jordanian sources said he was seen leaving Amman for Geneva on board a Jordanian passenger plane on Friday, 7 March. But the sources did not say if Muhammad Barzan al-Tikriti, who spent time in Baghdad and Tikrit working in coordination with his father and uncle Watban, remained in Switzerland or left for another country.
Again, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this report. But it is what’s being reported in the region.
