Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Nasiri al-Tikriti (or Qusai, ; 17 May 1966 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician, military leader, and the second son of Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in 2000. He was also in charge of the Republican Guard. Qusay and his brother Uday were killed in a U.S. raid in Mosul. Early and personal life Qusay was born in Baghdad in 1966 to Ba'athist revolutionary Saddam Hussein, who was in prison at the time, and his wife and cousin, Sajida Talfah. Some sources have said the birth year was 1965, while others have said it was either 1967 or 1968. He was widely described to be a family man and an attorney in training. He married Sahar Maher Abd al-Rashid; the daughter of Maher Abd al-Rashid, a top ranking military official, and had three sons: Mustafa (3 January 1989 – 22 July 2003), Yahya Adnan (born 1991) (heir apparent of his grand father Saddam) and Saddam Ali (born 1995). Career Qusay reportedly played a role in crushing the Shiite uprising in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War and is also thought to have masterminded the destruction of the southern marshes of Iraq. The wholesale destruction of these marshes ended a centuries-old way of life that prevailed among the Shiite Marsh Arabs who made the wetlands their home, and ruined the habitat for dozens of species of migratory birds. The Iraqi government stated that the action was intended to produce usable farmland, though a number of outsiders believe the destruction was aimed against the Marsh Arabs as retribution for their participation in the 1991 uprising. Uday was viewed as their father's heir apparent until he sustained serious injuries in a 1996 assassination attempt. Unlike Uday, who was known for extravagance and erratic, violent behavior, Qusay kept a low profile. Iraqi dissidents claimed that Qusay was responsible for the killing of many political activists. The Sunday Times reported that Qusay Hussein ordered the killing of Khalis Mohsen al-Tikriti, an engineer at the military industrialization organization, because he believed Mohsen was planning to leave Iraq. In 1998, Iraqi opposition groups accused Qusay Hussein of ordering the execution of thousands of political prisoners after hundreds of inmates were similarly executed to make room for new prisoners in crowded jails. Hussein's service in the Iraqi Republican Guard began around 2000. He had final say in