Topic: Saddam Hussein's family history Christians?

[Jerempire]

I was just reading a Road to Emmanus Journal, Vol. X, No. 4 (#39), where they were interviewing Dr. George Bebawi and he mentioned that
" Saddam's family was originally Christian—they only converted to Islam fifty years ago. Tikrit, where Saddaam was from, was a flourishing Christian city then." I been trying to verify this by checking other sources, but it is not mentioned anywhere else. Anybody else know anything about this?

[Cognomen]

I'm not overly familiar with Tikrit's history, but Tariq Aziz and other members of the Ba'ath Party (including many from that north-central corridor) are/were Christian.  Nothing like Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, or even Jordan, but Iraq maintained many sizable Christian communities until very recently.

[Ortho_cat]

well, that certainly explains alot...lol j/k...kind of

[ialmisry]

No, Saddam's family had tribal connections, and they weren't Christian tribes.

[Salpy]

I have friends from Iraq who say his nanny was Christian.  Of course I can't verify it.  He was very tolerant toward Christians though, so one wonders what in his background would have made him that way.

[Αριστοκλής]

Interesting speculation. I understand he had a particular fondness for respites at a Greek Orthodox monastery.

At the least Christians were far better off than now.

[Jerempire]

ya I was doing a bit more research and Tikrit did have a large christian monastery a thousand years ago. But Dr. George Bebawi ( PHD) is a celebrated church historian and Patristics scholar, I would doubt he would make a claim like that without some good evidence.

[Αριστοκλής]

ya I was doing a bit more research and Tikrit did have a large christian monastery a thousand years ago. But Dr. George Bebawi ( PHD) is a celebrated church historian and Patristics scholar, I would doubt he would make a claim like that without some good evidence.

IIRC, my source was a National Geographic article. I'll check.

Saddam's retreat was still active (with one monk, I think).

[augustin717]

his wife (or was it mistress ?) was greek

[Severian]

Apparently Saddam was given the key to the city of Detroit in 1980 for donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to a local Chaldean Church:


http://www.omg-facts.com/Celebs/Saddam-Hussein-was-given-the-key-to-the/58803

Who would've known?

Oh yeah, and Thread resurrection!

[Mor Ephrem]

Apparently Saddam was given the key to the city of Detroit in 1980 for donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to a local Chaldean Church:

LOL!

I always had a soft spot for him.

[Severian]

Apparently Saddam was given the key to the city of Detroit in 1980 for donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to a local Chaldean Church:

LOL!

I always had a soft spot for him.

Me too, to a certain extent. All his atrocities aside, he at least kept Iraq together. He was the lesser of two great evils, IMHO, especially for Iraq's Christians.

Now that he's gone the Iraqi military is in disarray, the economy in shambles, national security nonexistent, the Christians practically exterminated, and the whole country is in a constant of infighting and civil war.

But I'll stop while I'm ahead...

[Severian]

Interesting speculation. I understand he had a particular fondness for respites at a Greek Orthodox monastery.

If you could provide more information about this I would appreciate it.

[Αριστοκλής]

Interesting speculation. I understand he had a particular fondness for respites at a Greek Orthodox monastery.

If you could provide more information about this I would appreciate it.

It has been a long time, but as I recall I did not read this on the Internet but learned of this (I think) on a PBS piece about Saddam's palaces and retreats. At the time Hussein frequented the monastery only a single Greek Orthodox monk resided there. Maybe we can dig up something more.

[Avdima]

Interesting speculation. I understand he had a particular fondness for respites at a Greek Orthodox monastery.

If you could provide more information about this I would appreciate it.

It has been a long time, but as I recall I did not read this on the Internet but learned of this (I think) on a PBS piece about Saddam's palaces and retreats. At the time Hussein frequented the monastery only a single Greek Orthodox monk resided there. Maybe we can dig up something more.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=20030410&id=WGVWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=n_IDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5303,8383709

Interesting read. Thanks for sparking my interest Αριστοκλής!