(9 of 9)
Uday won't have that chance. But he did have an opportunity to defend his father's regime before it fell. Indeed, he did a much better job of it than his more respected younger brother. The Republican Guard, under Qusay's command, barely resisted the U.S. invaders, and it was partly Qusay's fault. One reason the front lines against Baghdad fell so easily, says one of his officers, is that he kept impulsively moving units from one place to another, right up to the last minute. Many were simply out of position when the Americans arrived. The day before Baghdad fell, this source recalls, Qusay held a meeting with his top generals. Qusay would ask a question, get an answer and then repeat the question five minutes later. "He looked nervous," he says. "He wasn't stable." By contrast, Uday's Fedayeen Saddam were Iraq's best fighters in Gulf War II. They confronted the U.S. troops and slowed their march to Baghdad. Their attacks were often suicidal, but that was their intent.
In Uday's sprawling al-Abit palace on the banks of the Tigris, U.S. soldiers are sorting through rubble, putting together matching pairs of Uday's many shoes to give to Iraqi workmen. In a dark recess of one of the complex's stone-lined corridors is a steel door opening onto a vault painted dark green. It was here, his associates say, that Uday tucked away the admonishing letter from his father. It was a letter he couldn't destroy but never wanted to see again. A letter that proved his father's disappointment in his elder son. The vault is empty now, cleaned out by U.S. special forces. The letter is not to be found. The matter of succession has been settled. The brothers are finished. --With reporting by Amany Radwan/Amman and Adam Zagorin/Washington