Volume 1 - Iraq Watch

Qusay stepped down as the Director of the SSO afterhe was elected one of two deputies in charge of themilitary branch of the Ba’th Party on 19 May 2001,three days after being elected to Ba’th Party membership.Managing his new responsibilities in addition tohis role in the SSO was reportedly a heavy burden onQusay.Walid Hamid TawfiqStaff Maj. Gen. WalidHamid Tawfiq held theposition of SSO Directorfrom June 2001until September 2002.Walid, a staff majorgeneral at the time, wasselected to fill Qusay’sposition because he wasthe most senior officerwithin the SSO. Qusaywanted to appoint the Walid Hamid Tawfi qDirector of RepublicanGuard Security to the position of SSO Director,but that officer was only a colonel. Qusay nevercompletely relinquished control of the SSO. Qusayordered Walid to report directly to him, though thenormal chain of reporting for the SSO Director wasto report security matters to the presidential secretary,‘Abd Hamid Mahmud Al Khatab Al Nasiri.Qusay eventually relieved Walid of duty and returnedas the Director of the SSO in September 2002. Thecircumstances around Walid’s reappointment to theGovernor of Al Basrah are uncertain. Walid claimsthat he was removed one week after he received aletter from Saddam admonishing him for monitoringan individual who was, without the knowledge ofWalid, close to Saddam.Structure of the OrganizationUnlike the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS), the directoratesand branches of the SSO did not have a codednomenclature.Himayah—The Presidential BodyguardsThe fi rst tier of security closest to Saddam took nodirection from the SSO, as this responsibility wasremoved from the SSO during the late 1980s. TheHimayah (Arabic for “Protection”), a general termfor the Department of Senior Escorts (al-Murafi qal-Qadim) was composed of two groups, the SpecialProtection (Amn al-Khas) and the Special Guard(Haras al-Khas), which were directly accountable tothe Secretary of the President, ‘Abd Hamid MahmudAl Khatab Al Nasiri. The Special Protection was withthe President 24 hours a day, seven days a week toprovide personal security. The Special Guard hadmore of a logistic role, providing personal servicessuch as laundry, food, and shopping. The SSO pickedthe candidates and monitored the members of thisgroup to ensure loyalty to Saddam.The Office of the DirectorThe Office of the Director contained the staff closestto Qusay and daily SSO operations. Qusay reliedless on the established officials of the organization,and by 1998 he developed his own close circle ofpersonal aides much as his father had done. Amongthem were ‘Ali Husayn Al Rashid, Qusay’s longstandingpersonal bodyguard; Hani ‘Abd-al-Latif Tulfah AlNasiri, the first cousin of Qusay’s mother; and SuhaylMuhammad Sultan Al Duri, Qusay’s secretary, Directorof Public Relations, and by default, the OfficialSecretary of the SSO Director (Office Manager).Suhayl replaced Sulayman ‘Ulwan Ibrahim Al HuraymisAl Nasiri who served as Qusay’s secretary since1991 and Office Manager until 1997, when Qusaydismissed him.The director’s office had four sections that handledallocation of residential properties for SSO employees,administration of SSO computers, financial oversight,and the inter-office and outgoing mail.The Directorate of Security AffairsThe Directorate of Security Affairs, the second tier ofpresidential protection, consisted of two sections thatwere charged with the security of presidential palaces,the office of the presidency, and Ba’th Party officesand headquarters. Made up of over 1,700 personnel,88