Fedayeen Saddam government officials. As the group had no overt religious affiliations, it had a mix of Sunni and Shia members. The Fedayeen were among the most loyal organizations to the government of Saddam Hussein and were a politically reliable force against domestic opponents. The Fedayeen played a role in the 2003 war, resisting the American-led invasion. Uday Hussein formed the Fedayeen Saddam in 1995 with ten to fifteen thousand recruits from the Iraqi regions most loyal to the Ba'ath Party. Uday used the Fedayeen for personal reasons such as smuggling and suppressing opponents. Command of the militia was handed to Qusay
Iraqi nationalism a common Mesopotamian heritage; this view was promoted by Abd al-Karim Qasim, who was of mixed Arab-Kurdish descent. The second variant is a dual nationalism combining Iraqi nationalism alongside Arab nationalism, that supports Iraqi nationalism for matters involving Iraq and Arab nationalism for issues involving Arabs as a whole. Saddam Hussein believed that the recognition of the ancient Mesopotamian origins and heritage of Iraqi Arabs was complementary to supporting Arab nationalism. The Ba'athist regime officially included the historic Kurdish Iraqi Muslim leader Saladin as a patriotic symbol in Iraq, Saladin led Muslim and Arab forces during the Crusades. Iraqi nationalism