Local lore flows about Iraq dam

Once a favorite fishing spot for the half-brother of Saddam Hussein, the Haditha Dam is now one of the favorite targets of Iraqi insurgents

By Michael Martinez
Tribune correspondent
Published June 9, 2005

HADITHA DAM, Iraq -- This towering dam on the Euphrates River, which serves as a garrison for the U.S. military, once was a surefire fishing spot for Saddam Hussein's half-brother.

When the hydroelectric dam was constructed in the 1980s with Soviet assistance, no chutes were built to allow fish to pass through the barrier, so large numbers of fish schooled in the roiling waters at the bottom of the dam.

Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, Hussein's half-brother who headed Iraq's murderous intelligence service, saw his opportunity.

"He used bombs to kill a big quantity of fish," said Hassan Yahyah Hassan, 53, the dam's manager who has been working at the dam for two decades.

"We tried to tell them you can't do that. You'll damage the dam," the manager added. "You know the old Saddam people. They killed anything--animals, fish, people, anything."

The fish that were killed in the bombings during the 1990s were taken home by Hussein's half-brother and his crew, presumably to eat, the manager said. Al-Hassan, a top financier and organizer of the insurgency, was captured in February 2004.

Ever since its construction, the Haditha Dam has been at the center of local lore and violent explosions, especially in the past few months as guerrillas have stepped up their mortar attacks against the dam, 135 miles northwest of Baghdad.

To read on and how this story effects the 3/25 click here...