She says she saw first-hand examples of his ruthlessness — such as when she believes he ordered the assassination of Oday, his oldest son, because he viewed him as a troublemaker and a rival for power. The assassination attempt failed, but Oday was left paralyzed. "I didn't want in this way," Lampsos recalled Saddam saying afterwards. "I wanted him to die. It was better for him." U.S. intelligence officials, who had suspected that Saddam was behind the assassination attempt but were unable to confirm it, told Primetime that Lampsos's account could be damaging to Saddam's regime, and potentially even destabilize it.
