Eagle, I don't want to form an alliance anymore.

This signal alarmed Saddam Hussein, and the assassination was postponed. Coincidentally, the Kuwaiti crisis erupted shortly afterward, and war broke out.

As Minister of Defense, Hailala was marginalized by Saddam Hussein during the war—Saddam distrusted him, prevented him from intervening in command, and placed him in a nominal position.

Hailala, however, had many connections within the military. Many of the loyal mid-level officers he had personally promoted during his more than ten years as Minister of Defense were still around. Many of these people were being eliminated one by one by Saddam's purges.

For these people, Hailala was not just a former superior officer; he was their only way out.

On March 7, the marginalized Hailala made secret contact with KGB agents, and some government officials were also secretly organized to plan the establishment of a new government.

Saddam Hussein seemed to realize that the more he tried to avoid a Soviet military coup, the easier it would be for the coup to succeed. The Soviet Union's influence on the Iraqi army over the decades was too deep for him to resolve in a few weeks.

So he began to make contact with the Americans. Even though the Americans had bombed him just weeks earlier, he still chose to turn around and try to befriend them.

He had no choice. In a bipolar world, the only way out for a dictator abandoned by one superpower is to turn to another. This is the tragedy of small nations.

Saddam Hussein sent a secret envoy to Jordan to contact CIA agents. Iraq lacked official diplomatic channels with the United States—its embassy in the US had long been closed. Jordanian King Hussein's relationship with Saddam was always delicate, while his relationship with the United States was relatively good. Saddam used Jordanian channels to send a conciliatory signal to Washington.

The message was straightforward: Iraq was willing to cooperate, and as long as its position could be maintained, Iraq was willing to discuss everything else.

The Americans want Iraqi oil? Sure, we'll give it to them!

Iraq possesses the world's second-largest proven oil reserves, and Saddam Hussein indicated a willingness to concede to the United States on oil pricing and development rights, opening Iraqi oil fields to American oil companies. For the United States, recovering from recession, cheap oil and military contracts are votes.

There's also the geographical aspect; Iraq is sandwiched between Iran and Syria. If the United States could pull Iraq out of the Soviet sphere of influence, it would be tantamount to driving a thorn into the Soviet Middle East system.

And its anti-Iranian stance. The United States and Iran have been bitter enemies since the 1979 hostage crisis, and especially now that relations between the Soviet Union and Iran are warming up, Saddam Hussein is happy to portray himself as a bulwark against Iranian expansion.

President Gephard was stumped by this problem:

To openly befriend Saddam Hussein? Impossible.

The US has only just begun to portray Saddam Hussein as a Hitler-like dictator, and the public's memory of him is still fresh!

Gephart's political career could not withstand such a reversal.

Covert contact? That's quite feasible. The CIA has secret dealings with dictators around the world; it's nothing new. In order to curb the expansion of communism worldwide, the United States doesn't care what methods it uses.

So Gephat decided to have Jordan sound out how much more Saddam could offer, with the US making no public commitments, so that even if the deal fell through, they wouldn't lose out.

The lifeline offered by the United States was a treasure to Saddam Hussein, who was in dire straits. He desperately wanted to get on the American bandwagon as soon as possible—he didn't have much time left. Every day he delayed brought him one day closer to the Soviet coup. Even if it meant betraying his country for personal gain, he wanted to stay on the presidential throne!

The channel was established so quickly that it surprised even the KGB. The KGB had informants in Jordan, and intelligence about Saddam's contact with the Americans through Amman was on Moscow's desk within days.

Slava remained silent for a long time after reading the intelligence report.

His original plan was to proceed gradually, allowing the Kurdish and Shia rebellions to wear down Saddam, letting discontent within the military fester, and then, at the opportune moment, supporting Hailala in launching a clean, bloodless coup. This plan would take time, perhaps several months, perhaps a year.

However, intelligence that Saddam was trying to curry favor with the United States destroyed the timetable.

A country sitting atop the world's second-largest oil reserves and at the heart of the Soviet Union's Middle Eastern alliance turned its back on the United States—

The Soviet Union could not afford the consequences.

“We can’t wait any longer. The Ministry of Defense has already drawn up a plan. We have to take down that bastard Saddam,” Slava said to Chebrikov.

Chebrikov nodded, and the KGB was ready.

In the last week of March, Soviet airborne and special forces began to assemble in western Syria and northern Iraq. Meanwhile, within Iraq, the communication network in Hailar was activated.

Chebrikov's officers, who had been working within the Iraqi military for years, began making contact with people in Hailala to discuss specific timelines and plans.

Hailala's situation was extremely dangerous. Saddam's purge was spreading around him—people he knew were disappearing one by one. Although he himself was temporarily spared because of his family background, he knew it was only a matter of time. Saddam would come after him sooner or later!

The 1989 assassination attempt was merely postponed, not canceled.

Hailala made a decision: he would wait no longer. On March 26th, he sent back a message through Soviet channels:

I'm ready.

The KGB had learned that Saddam Hussein had a trip scheduled for March 28, during which he would travel by helicopter to a secret meeting place with US representatives.

This means that within a few hours on March 28, Saddam would leave Baghdad, leave his presidential palace, leave his underground bunker, and leave the thousands of Republican Guards who guarded him.

“Make it clean, use American weapons, and say it was done by Shiite insurgents in the south,” Slava said.

He stood up and walked to the window, where the sky above Moscow in late March was visible.

"If Saddam manages to escape, or if the plan fails, we will directly have paratroopers and special forces cooperate with Hailala to launch a coup. As long as we can eliminate the 2000 Republican Guards in a short time, we can put Hailala in power."

Chebrikov asked, "If we successfully capture Saddam alive, should we kill him on the spot? Or should we force Saddam to retire due to health reasons?"

"Health my ass! The whole world knows we did it just because of that excuse. Let's have a public trial." Slava sighed and waved his hand helplessly.

"Yes."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

March 28, 1991, western Iraq.

Saddam Hussein sat in the back cabin of a Mi-8 helicopter.

He didn't fly on an Air Force plane; the Air Force was no longer trustworthy. Before the war, he carried out a major purge of the Air Force's top brass, replacing them with his own family members. As a result, once the war started, half of the Air Force's planes, carrying the officers he had replaced, fled to the Soviet Union.

The loyalty of the remaining Air Force personnel is not very reliable, and he is hesitant to fly on Air Force planes.

So he chose to fly in a Republican Guard helicopter. He personally selected the pilot, who was the son of his cousin's sister, and had his family history investigated for three generations.

The guards were also Tikritians, all elites of the Republican Guard.

In Saddam's world, only the Tikrits were reliable. And even among the Tikrits, not every one was reliable—only those related to him by blood or those who had been dependent on his family for many years could be trusted to a limited extent.

Helicopters fly over the desert.

Outside the window was a gray-yellow wilderness, with a few clumps of withered grass occasionally sprouting from the sand.

Sitting next to him was an aide, a man in his fifties wearing a suit, a senior member of the Revival Party, who handled his foreign affairs liaison. This man had just been reading aloud the list of conditions to be handed over to the American representative.

“Your Excellency,” the aide said carefully, “have we given too much in terms of concessions regarding oil development rights?”

Saddam did not look at him; he stared indifferently at the desert outside the window.

“Uh… I mean,” the aide continued, his voice even softer.

"If we grant the Americans the development rights to so many oil fields all at once, it will be very difficult to take them back later. These oil fields are Iraqi national assets—"

"State assets?" Saddam asked casually.

"You're talking to me about national assets? National assets—if this country even exists. The Soviets want me dead, and that shorty Ivanov is in Baghdad looking for someone to replace me! Do you think he cares about Iraq's national assets?"

The staff remained silent.

“If the Americans want oil fields, we’ll give them to them,” Saddam said. “If they want military bases, we can talk to them. If they want Iraq to speak for them in OPEC, we can do that too.”

He turned to his staff: "I have to live first. If I'm alive, we can talk about anything; if I'm dead, I have nothing. If you give the Americans an oil field, I can live to take it back from that field. If you don't give the Americans an oil field, and the Soviets replace me, that oil field and the whole country will belong to someone else!"

Did you understand?

The aide lowered his head: "Understood, Your Excellency."

Saddam turned his gaze back to the window.

This aide needs to be replaced when he gets back. Anyone who talks to him about making too many concessions at a time like this is either stupid or has ulterior motives.

Neither of them can be kept!

The helicopter continued flying forward, with the desert stretching out beneath its feet like an endless gray blanket.

We'll be there in forty minutes.

...

"Beep beep beep—!"

Saddam didn't wait for those forty minutes. He first heard the pilot's shouts:

"Missiles! Ground-based missiles!"

The helicopter's missile warning system blared. Saddam's fleet consisted of four helicopters, but the number of anti-aircraft missiles fired from the ground far exceeded four.

"Varied--"

Saddam only had time to turn his head—

"boom!"

The first missile struck the tail rotor. The helicopter shook violently; the moment the tail rotor shattered, the fuselage lost its counter-torque and began to spin uncontrollably.

"boom!!"

The second missile hit the right engine, then the third, the fourth...

On the ground, a group of men in civilian clothes, whom Iraqi officials later called "well-trained Shiite insurgents armed by the United States," pulled back their camouflage from a dry riverbed and fired nine Stinger missiles at Saddam's aircraft!

The Stinger is manufactured in the United States and is guided by both infrared and ultraviolet light, enabling it to be fired and forgotten.

It was this very missile that gave Soviet helicopters a nightmare in Afghanistan, and the Soviets knew better than anyone the power of this weapon.

Now it's Saddam's turn to suffer!

The helicopter was torn to pieces by a series of explosions in mid-air. The aviation fuel was ignited, and a fireball of mixed orange and black burst open in the desert sky, with debris and wreckage scattered across the sand within a radius of several hundred meters.

Metal, plastic, broken glass, and Saddam Hussein's body, torn to pieces but still recognizable by his face.

Saddam Hussein, President of the Republic of Iraq, leader of the Ba'ath Party, "Hero of the Arab Nation," and one of the most powerful dictators in the Arab world, has finally died.

There were no last words, no heroic dying moments, only a burst of fire that erupted and then nothing more.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

News of Saddam Hussein's death in a plane crash reached Baghdad within an hour.

The message was relayed by the Soviet embassy in Iraq, who "learned of the news through intelligence channels" and immediately notified Iraqi Defense Minister Khairala.

Hailar received the news in his office at the Ministry of Defense. He then dialed the numbers of his subordinates. One call was to the commander of the 1st Division of the Republican Guard, one to the brigade commander of the Baghdad Garrison, and one to a deputy director of the General Intelligence Directorate.

These people were all his former subordinates. What Hailala said was very simple:

"...His Excellency the President was attacked by rebels during his inspection tour. His helicopter crashed and the President has died a heroic death."

The Republic is now in a critical moment. The Minister of National Defense, in accordance with the Constitution, immediately assumes command of national security. All military units must obey the orders of the Ministry of National Defense; any unit acting without authorization will be considered a rebel!

Then Hailala walked out of the office.

The coup was completed within fourteen hours. In the first two hours, Hailar's forces seized control of Baghdad's television and radio stations, and a brief statement began broadcast on television—

"Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was killed in a rebel attack on March 27. Defense Minister Adnan Khairallah has assumed command of national security in accordance with the constitution and the law of emergency. The military and civilians of the whole country should remain calm and obey all instructions from the Ministry of Defense."

Within four hours, key locations in Baghdad, including the presidential palace, the Ba'ath Party headquarters, the General Intelligence Directorate headquarters, and several camps of the Special Republican Guard, were all taken over by Hailara's people and Soviet special forces. Soviet paratroopers landed at a military airfield north of Baghdad and seized control of the runway and control tower.

Within eight hours, the Republican Guard, once Saddam's most loyal armed force, split after learning of his death. Some division commanders immediately pledged allegiance to Hailala, some hesitated, and some tried to contact other members of Saddam's family—but Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay, were taken into custody by Hailala's people within the first hour of the coup.

Fourteen hours later, the gunfire in Baghdad stopped.

The sporadic resistance came from a few security agencies controlled by Saddam's family, but it quickly crumbled after news of Saddam's death was confirmed.

Saddam Hussein is dead, and his fear machine has stopped working. Those who were loyal to him out of fear naturally chose to accept the leadership of the new government.

On March 29, Hailar formally requested peacekeeping assistance from the Soviet Union in the name of maintaining national stability and order.

The Soviet Union, "at the invitation," sent additional troops into Iraq. The number was small, enough to control a few key military airfields and transportation hubs. Within seven days, the new government in Hailar regained control of the old government's territory.

One by one, local officials and military units that had been waiting to see what would happen after Saddam's death declared their loyalty to the new government.

Most people don't like Hailala because they like her, but because she's the only one who can provide order right now.

In a country that has just experienced war, rebellion, and coup, whoever can provide order is the legitimate government.

Most of the Republican Guard had little reason to continue resisting after Saddam's death and the control of his family members.

Hailala gave them a way out:

"Past events will not be investigated, and those who swore allegiance to the new government will retain their military ranks and benefits."

Most people accepted the deal.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

At the suggestion of the Soviet Union, Hailar sat down at the negotiating table with Kurdish leaders regarding the Kurdish rebels in the north.

The Soviet Union naturally hosted the negotiations. Moscow acted as guarantor in this matter—it guaranteed that the central government in Baghdad would not unilaterally abolish the autonomy arrangement, and at the same time guaranteed that the Kurds would not use autonomy as a springboard to pursue independence.

The framework of the autonomy agreement was quickly finalized under Soviet mediation:

The Kurds gained an autonomous region with their own parliament and local government. The Peshmeg armed forces were legalized as the autonomous region's security force, integrated into Iraq's defense system but under the command of the autonomous government.

Regarding autonomy in culture and education, Kurdish and Iraqi have become the official languages ​​of the autonomous region. All official facilities and shops must use bilingual languages, and schools can teach in Kurdish but must also provide Iraqi instruction.

As for the revenue sharing mechanism for oil—a certain percentage of the revenue from oil fields within the autonomous region goes to the autonomous region, while the remainder goes to the central government.