Khairallah Talfah
Encyclopedia
Khairallah Talfah - Khayr-Allah Telfah - Khairallah Tolfah - Khairallah Tilfah was an Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

i Ba'ath Party official, and the maternal uncle and father-in-law of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

. He was the father of Sajida Talfah
Sajida Talfah
Sajida Khairallah Talfah , is the widow and wife of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and mother of two sons and three daughters .She was born in 1937. She is the oldest daughter of Khairallah Talfah...

, Saddam's first wife, and of Adnan Khairallah
Adnan Khairallah
General Adnan Khairallah , was Saddam Hussein's brother-in-law and cousin. He held several titles and was a member of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council. It was initially believed that he died in a helicopter crash near Mosul in the late eighties during a sandstorm...

, defence minister. Saddam made Khairallah Talfah mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

, but was forced to remove him due to Talfah's corruption.

Talfah is the author of Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Persians, Jews, and Flies
Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Persians, Jews, and Flies
Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Persians, Jews, and Flies is the name of a racist Iraqi government pamphlet widely published during the era of Saddam Hussein....

.

Family ties

He had strong family ties with the highest Iraqi power figures:
  • He was President Ahmad Hassan Al-Bakr's brother in law (Al-Bakr was married to Talfah's sister).
  • His daughter Ilham married Haytham (Al-Bakr's eldest son), only to divorce when Al-Bakr lost power to Saddam Hussein then married Watban (Saddam's half brother).
  • He was Saddam Hussein's uncle (Saddam's mother was his sister Sabha).
  • He was Saddam's father in law (Saddam Hussein was married to Talfah's daughter -Sajida-)

Career, family and insight into the man

He was said to have participated as an Iraqi Army Officer in the Army revolt of 1941 led by Rasheed A'ali Al-Gaylani against the Iraqi Royal institution supported by the occupying British forces. The revolt did not achieve any major changes, the participating troops were pardoned and they largely kept their ranks and military positions.

He became President of the Association of Veteran Warriors جمعية المحاربين القدماء after the Baath party took control of power in 1968.

He was quite outspoken and could be quite blunt and sometimes inconsiderate with people he disagrees with. He was known to have been quite opinionated, tongue sharp, occasionally obnoxious, though trying to portray himself as a strict religious figure.

When he became Mayor of Baghdad in early 1970s, he was more preoccupied by "morality" and "righteous behaviour" than other duties as a Baghdad Mayor. He ordered the Security Service and Police Force to spray paint on legs of any woman wearing short skirts, and tearing the bell-bottom trousers worn by any male or female. These trousers were fashionable at the time and were widely called (Charlis, Charles, or Charleston, شارلستون,شارلس). These actions against any "Westernised" contemporary trends only lasted for a few weeks and were terminated abruptly, probably when Vice President Saddam Hussein intervened. These "trendy" fashion subsequently spread all over the country and ironically had been worn even by Talfah's own sons and daughters.

He collected a considerable wealth using his influence as a close family member of both Ahmad Al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein. He formed a retail and property organisation widely known as Khairallah Talfah Society جمعية خير الله طلفاح . One of the greatest money spinners was buying worthless farmland on cities outskirts where residential land was at very short supply, dividing them into thousands of residential plots, then selling them on at a high profit to people, usually government workers like military, police, teachers...etc.

He headed the War Veterans Society (Veteran Warriors or more commonly called the Khairallah Talfah Society جمعية خير الله طلفاح was ). With the huge shortages of almost all consumer goods that became the new phenomena soon after the Baath Party took power on 17 July 1968, the Khairallah Talfah Society جمعية خير الله طلفاح was importing goods at the heavily subsidised Dinar/Dollar rates then making considerable profits from selling these goods on to very grateful people.

Shortly before his death, he had his leg(s) amputated as a result of Diabetes. It is widely known that he loved candy and all things sweet, especially Swedish Fish
Swedish Fish
Swedish Fish is a type of chewy fish-shaped candy. It has been developed with special flavors specifically for the North American market by the Swedish candy producer Malaco, which exports products to North America.-History:...

.

His sons and daughters were known to behave like the miniature of their father. It was alleged that they could be quite unpleasant to people expecting others to show obedience, deference and acknowledge their superiority.

His daughter Ilham إلهام (born 1955 and later died of cancer) was schooled in the famously good and strict Christian Convent girls school of Rahibat Al-Taqdomah مدرسة راهبات التقدمة. Ilham was the sister of Sajida (Saddam's wife) and Adnan Khairallah (Defence Minister). All three were the offspring of Talfah's first wife.

The daughters of President Ahmad Hassan Al-Bakr were in that school راهبات التقدمة before Ilham. Al-Bakr's daughters were known to have been very well behaved, mingling seamlessly with all others and not showing any of the superiority and arrogance that became the usual behaviour of Khairallah Talfah's daughter Ilham. It is reported that Ilham disagreed with a Kurd girl's opinion in a "Religious Education" lesson then secret service, sent by her father Talfah the next morning, arrested the young girl who was then reportedly released after a few days but never joined the school again. Ilham was reportedly saying that she had to get her arrested to teach her and any other person who dares to "behave inappropriately" a good lesson.

Ilham married Ahmad Hassan Al-Bakr's son, only to divorce from him as soon as Saddam took power from Al-Bakr, allegedly through the influence of her father Talfah. Ilham then married Watban وطبان, Saddam's half brother.

Khairallah Talfah's son Lou'ay لؤي was shot with a hand gun in 1983 while in the resort of Habbaniya. The bullet fractured his femur and an emergency surgery to fix the fracture with a plate and screws was performed in Rasheed Military Hospital in Baghdad on the same night. He made a full recovery after a few weeks stay in Rasheed Military Hospital Officers Fracture ward. The Surgery was performed by Major General Doctor Moflih Al-Dulaimi اللواء الطبيب مفلح فارس الدليمي اختصاصي جراحة العظام والكسور who happened to have been on-call that night for fractures in the hospital. Circumstances of the shooting were not clear, but he claimed that it had been an accidental shooting while cleaning the gun. However, no gun powder wounds وشم بارودي were reported to have been seen on the entry wound by the surgeons. The lack of any gun powder residues means that the gun was unlikely to have been fired within 90 cm of the injured, and therefore, it could not have been self inflicted.

See also

  • Anti-Iranianism
    Anti-Iranianism
    Anti-Iranian sentiment is feelings and expression of hostility, hatred, discrimination, or prejudice towards Iran and its culture, and towards persons based on their association with Iran and Iranian culture...

  • Iranian Embassy Siege
    Iranian Embassy Siege
    The Iranian Embassy siege took place from 30 April to 5 May 1980, after a group of six armed men stormed the Iranian embassy in South Kensington, London. The gunmen took 26 people hostage—mostly embassy staff, but several visitors and a police officer, who had been guarding the embassy, were also...

     by Iraqi terrorists
  • United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war
    United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war
    United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War, as a counterbalance to post-revolutionary Iran, included several billion dollars worth of economic aid, the sale of dual-use technology, non-U.S. origin weaponry, military intelligence, Special Operations training, and direct involvement in...

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