US Edition 
Dictators and their sons: the sons of Saddam
Saddam Hussein's two sons, Uday and Qusay, helped to spread the Iraqi dictator's reign of terror and keep his grip on power for nearly 30 years.
They were both, at various times groomed to inherit their father's mantle but died together in a gunfight with US forces in the northern city of Mosul in July 2003.
Eldest son, Uday, 39, had a penchant for fast cars, cowboy boots and Italian suits – as well as rape, torture and murder. He fell from his father's favour after beating his father's aide to death, allegedly for the crime of introducing Saddam to the woman who would become his second wife.
He was shot and badly wounded in an assassination attempt in a Baghdad street in 1996, an event that also diminished his chances for succession after he was left impotent and barely able to walk. But he headed the paramilitary Fedayeen organisation, Saddam's own private army of thugs, and earned a reputation as the most hated man in Iraq.
As head of the National Iraqi Olympic Committee and the country's football association he reportedly tortured those who failed to win games. Even friends said they would be hung upside-down on the 'falaqa,' his favoured torture instrument, so their soles could be beaten for transgressions as slight as being a few minutes late to meet with him.
He was described as having an obsession with raping women. Girls as young as 12 or 13 were often brought to his private palace, which was decked out in notoriously bad taste with indoor fountains and erotic murals. His two marriages, to daughters of senior Ba'ath party aides were dissolved after he beat up his brides.
In contrast Qusay Hussein, two years younger, was organised, serious and appeared every bit the family man. But he was also ruthless, an enforcer who modelled even his bushy moustache and style of dress on the father he was tipped to succeed after his brother's increasingly erratic behaviour led to his fall from grace.
He was put in charge of defending Baghdad and Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit. He also ran the elite Republican Guard – Iraq's best trained and equipped army unit, entrusted with the protection of the president.
Qusay also controlled the internal security and intelligence, including the Special Security Organisation, the secret police which suppressed opposition to the Baathist regime. He was thought to have been taking an increasingly important role in the country's foreign affairs and was believed to have spearheaded Iraq's attempts to rebuild ties with its Arab neighbours before the war.