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When did Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq?
1979Saddam Hussein was installed as president of Iraq in 1979. It was a rise to power that required overcoming a birth in poverty and a teenage and early adult life spent in struggle. Hussein was born in 1937 in Tikrit, Iraq.
How long was Saddam Hussein in power?
During his 24 years in office, Saddam's secret police, charged with protecting his power, terrorized the public, ignoring the human rights of the nation's citizens. While many of his people faced poverty, he lived in incredible luxury, building more than 20 lavish palaces throughout the country.
What is Saddam Hussein best known for?
Hussein was known for killing his own people, gassing the Kurds and also waging war with Iran with support from Western nations. At the time, the West feared an Iran ruled by Islamic fundamentalists would be a threat to Europe and the Middle East.
When was Saddam overthrown?
Capture of Saddam HusseinDate13 December 2003LocationAd-Dawr, IraqResultUS victory Capture and arrest of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein
Did the US support Saddam Hussein?
More than 60 US Defense Intelligence Agency officers provided combat planning assistance, and the US also provided battlefield intelligence including satellite pictures to Saddam Hussein's military.
What made Saddam Hussein a dictator?
He used his policing powers to pursue the enemies of the regime and brutally consolidate his own control. Saddam ruled Iraq with an iron fist for almost 30 years. To maintain power for so long, he used fear, intimidation and violence like few other dictators in history, but in the end, even that was not enough.
Is Saddam a hero?
Even as Saddam portrayed himself as a hero, he initiated brutal campaigns in his own country, even using firing squads and chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds. After the 1991 uprisings in Iraq, his regime also destroyed Shia holy shrines, killed religious authorities, and disappeared family members.
Was Saddam Hussein Sunni or Shiite?
A majority of Iraqi Arabs are Shias, but Sunnis ran the show when Saddam Hussein, himself Sunni, ruled Iraq. Saddam spread a false belief, still surprisingly persistent in the country today, that Sunnis were the real majority in Iraq.
Why did the US invade Iraq?
The US claimed the intent was to "disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people".
What country did Iraq invade 1990?
KuwaitOn August 2, 1990, at about 2 a.m. local time, Iraqi forces invade Kuwait, Iraq's tiny, oil-rich neighbor. Kuwait's defense forces were rapidly overwhelmed, and those that were not destroyed retreated to Saudi Arabia.
What happened to Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War?
Days after an Iraqi court upheld his sentence in December 2006, Saddam was executed.
When did Saddam Hussein die?
Saddam Hussein was executed on December 30, 2006, according to the sentence of an Iraqi tribunal.
Where did Saddam Hussein grow up?
Saddam Hussein was born in a village near the city of Tikrīt, Iraq. At a young age, he moved to Baghdad to live with his uncle.
How did Saddam Hussein influence the world?
To assert Iraq’s hegemony over its neighbours, Saddam led Iraq into war with Iran in the Iran-Iraq War and with Kuwait in the lead-up to the Persia...
Who was the dictator of Iraq?
The Dictator of Iraq. Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq with a brutal hand, using fear and terror to stay in power. He established a secret police force that suppressed internal dissenters and developed a "cult of personality" to build public support.
When did Saddam Hussein return to Iraq?
In 1963, the Baath Party successfully overthrew the government and took power, which allowed Saddam to return to Iraq from exile. While home, he married his cousin, Sajida Tulfah. However, the Baath Party was overthrown after only nine months in power and Saddam was arrested in 1964 after another coup attempt.
What was Saddam Hussein's uncle's role in Iraq?
Saddam Hussein Enters Politics. Saddam's uncle, an ardent Arab nationalist, introduced him to the world of politics. Iraq, which had been a British colony from the end of World War I until 1932, was bubbling with internal power struggles. One of the groups vying for power was the Baath Party, to which Saddam's uncle was a member.
What are some interesting facts about Saddam Hussein?
Fast Facts: Saddam Hussein 1 Known For: Dictator of Iraq from 1979–2003 2 Also Known As: Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti, "The Butcher of Baghdad" 3 Born: April 28, 1937 in Al-ʿAwjah, Iraq 4 Parents: Hussein 'Abd al-Majid, Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat 5 Died: December 30, 2006 in Baghdad, Iraq 6 Education: High school in Baghdad; law school for three years (did not graduate) 7 Published Works: Novels including Zabiba and the King, The Fortified Castle, Men and the City, Begone Demons 8 Spouses: Sajida Talfah, Samira Shahbandar 9 Children: Uday Hussein, Qusay Hussein, Raghad Hussein, Rana Hussein,#N#Hala Hussein 10 Notable Quote: "We are ready to sacrifice our souls, our children, and our families so as not to give up Iraq. We say this so no one will think that America is capable of breaking the will of the Iraqis with its weapons."
How did Saddam Hussein affect the world?
The actions of Saddam Hussein have had a powerful impact on international politics for the 21st century. America's relationship with Iraq and other nations of the Middle East were strongly influenced by the conflicts with Saddam's Iraq.
What war did Saddam Hussein lead?
Saddam led Iraq in a war against Iran from 1980 to 1988, which ended in a stalemate. Also during the 1980s, Saddam used chemical weapons against Kurds within Iraq, including gassing the Kurdish town of Halabja which killed 5,000 in March 1988. In 1990, Saddam ordered Iraqi troops to take the country of Kuwait.
How long did Saddam Hussein spend in prison?
He spent 18 months in prison, where he was tortured before he escaped in July 1966. During the next two years, Saddam became an important leader within the Baath Party. In July 1968, when the Baath Party again gained power, Saddam was made vice president. Over the next decade, Saddam became increasingly powerful.
What happened to Iraq after Saddam Hussein's defeat?
Iraq’s crushing defeat triggered internal rebellions by both Shiʿis and Kurds, but Saddam suppressed their uprisings, causing thousands to flee to refugee camps along the country’s northern border. Untold thousands more were murdered, many simply disappearing into the regime’s prisons.
Why did Saddam Hussein invade Iraq?
To assert Iraq’s hegemony over its neighbours, Saddam led Iraq into war with Iran in the Iran-Iraq War and with Kuwait in the lead-up to the Persian Gulf War. His refusal to cooperate fully with international inspections for proscribed weapons led to the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and allies in the Iraq War.
What was the first salvo of the Iraq War?
The opening salvo of the Iraq War was an assault by U. S. aircraft on a bunker complex in which Saddam was thought to be meeting with subordinates. Although the attack failed to kill the Iraqi leader, subsequent attacks directed against Saddam made it clear that eliminating him was a major goal of the invasion. Always obstinate in his tone, Saddam exhorted Iraqis to lay down their lives to stop U.S. and British forces, but resistance to the invasion soon crumbled, and on April 9, the day Baghdad fell to U.S. soldiers, Saddam fled into hiding. He took with him the bulk of the national treasury and was initially able to evade capture by U.S. troops. His sons, Uday and Qusay, were cornered and killed in Mosul on July 22, but it was not until December 13 that Saddam was finally captured. The once dapper leader was pulled, disheveled and dirty, from a small underground hiding place near a farmhouse in the vicinity of Tikrīt. Although he was armed, Saddam surrendered to U.S. soldiers without firing a shot.
What war did Saddam Hussein lead?
To assert Iraq’s hegemony over its neighbours, Saddam led Iraq into war with Iran in the Iran-Iraq War and with Kuwait in the lead-up to the Persian Gulf War. His refusal to cooperate fully with international inspections for proscribed weapons led to the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. and allies in the Iraq War.
What was Saddam Hussein's trial?
Throughout the nine-month trial, Saddam interrupted the proceedings with angry outbursts, claiming that the tribunal was a sham and that U.S. interests were behind it. The tribunal finally adjourned in July 2006 and handed down its verdicts in November. Saddam was convicted of crimes against humanity —including willful killing, illegal imprisonment, deportation, and torture—and was sentenced to death by hanging. Saddam’s half brother (an intelligence officer) and Iraq’s former chief judge were also sentenced to death. Days after an Iraqi court upheld his sentence in December 2006, Saddam was executed.
Why did Saddam Hussein scale down his economic development programs?
The cost of the war and the interruption of Iraq’s oil exports caused Saddam to scale down his ambitious programs for economic development. The Iran-Iraq War dragged on in a stalemate until 1988, when both countries accepted a cease-fire that ended the fighting.
What was Saddam Hussein's goal as president?
He used an extensive secret-police establishment to suppress any internal opposition to his rule, and he made himself the object of an extensive personality cult among the Iraqi public. His goals as president were to supplant Egypt as leader of the Arab world and to achieve hegemony over the Persian Gulf.
How did Saddam Hussein become president?
Less than a week later, he called an assembly of the Ba'ath Party . During the meeting, a list of 68 names was read out loud, and each person on the list was promptly arrested and removed from the room. Of those 68, all were tried and found guilty of treason and 22 were sentenced to death. By early August 1979, hundreds of Saddam's political foes had been executed.
Who was the leader of Iraq?
Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq for more than two decades and is seen as a figurehead of the country's military conflicts with Iran and the United States.
What was the name of the country that Saddam Hussein invaded in 1980?
The same year that Saddam ascended to the presidency, Ayatollah Khomeini led a successful Islamic revolution in Iraq's neighbor to the northeast, Iran. Saddam, whose political power rested in part upon the support of Iraq's minority Sunni population, worried that developments in Shi-ite majority Iran could lead to a similar uprising in Iraq. In response, on September 22, 1980, Saddam ordered Iraqi forces to invade the oil-rich region of Khuzestan in Iran. The conflict soon blossomed into an all-out war, but Western nations and much of the Arab world, fearful of the spread of Islamic radicalism and what it would mean to the region and the world, laid their support firmly behind Saddam, despite the fact that his invasion of Iran clearly violated international law. During the conflict, these same fears would cause the international community to essentially ignore Iraq's use of chemical weapons, its genocidal dealing with its Kurdish population and its burgeoning nuclear program. On August 20, 1988, after years of intense conflict that left hundreds of thousands dead on both sides, a ceasefire agreement was finally reached.
What happened to Saddam Hussein?
On November 5, 2006, Saddam was found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentencing was appealed, but was ultimately upheld by a court of appeals.
How did Saddam Hussein's brother die?
A few months later, Saddam's older brother died of cancer. When Saddam was born, his mother, severely depressed by her oldest son's death and the disappearance of her husband, was unable to effectively care for Saddam, and at age three, he was sent to Baghdad to live with his uncle, Khairallah Talfah.
Why was Saddam Hussein arrested?
In 1963, when Qasim's government was overthrown in the so-called Ramadan Revolution, Saddam returned to Iraq, but he was arrested the following year as the result of in-fighting in the Ba'ath Party.
What was Saddam's role in the Iraq war?
During that same time, however, Saddam helped develop Iraq's first chemical weapons program and, to guard against coups, created a powerful security apparatus, which included both Ba'athist paramilitary groups and the People's Army, and which frequently used torture, rape and assassination to achieve its goals.
When was Saddam Hussein captured?
Saddam Hussein captured. After spending nine months on the run, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is captured on December 13, 2003. Saddam’s downfall began on March 20, 2003, when the United States led an invasion force into Iraq to topple his government, which had controlled the country for more than 20 years.
How long did Saddam Hussein's war with Iran last?
In the early 1980s, Saddam involved his country in an eight-year war with Iran, which is estimated to have taken more than a million lives on both sides.
What party did Saddam Hussein join?
After moving to Baghdad as a teenager, Saddam joined the now-infamous Baath party, which he would later lead. He participated in several coup attempts, finally helping to install his cousin as dictator of Iraq in July 1968. Saddam took over for his cousin 11 years later.
What was the role of Saddam Hussein in the Cold War?
As the Cold War wound down, Saddam replaced the Soviet Union as the United States’ most significant villain. In August 1990, Saddam attempted to extend Iraqi influence by invading the small but oil-rich nation of Kuwait. This invasion prompted an immediate response from US president George Bush, who ordered US forces to expel Saddam’s troops from Kuwait (First Gulf War, 1990-91). Iraq was not invaded but was subjected to years of economic sanctions and embargoes. These sanctions crippled Iraq’s domestic economy and caused significant human suffering.
When was Saddam Hussein arrested?
In December 2003, US forces found the former dictator hiding in a hole near his hometown. He was arrested, interrogated and handed over to Iraqi authorities for trial. Saddam Hussein was found guilty and executed by hanging in December 2006.
Why did Saddam Hussein align his country with the Soviet Union?
In 1972 he aligned his country with the Soviet Union, chiefly to strengthen the Iraqi military. Iraq received arms, advisors and training from the USSR and KGB, as well as East Germany and the Stasi.
Where was Saddam Hussein born?
Saddam was born into a family of shepherds near the town of Tikrit in northern Iraq. He never knew his father, who disappeared before Saddam was born, and was raised by his brutal stepfather and uncles. Saddam attended high school in Baghdad, later commencing a law degree. He abandoned his legal studies to join the Ba’ath Party, a revolutionary group that sought the formation of a single, socialist Arab state.
Who was the leader of Iraq in the Cold War?
Saddam Hussein (1937-2006) was the long-serving president of Iraq, ruling from July 1979 until his overthrow in April 2003. As leader of Iraq Saddam’s relationship with his fellow Middle Eastern rulers, as well as Cold War powers like the United States and Soviet Russia, was fluid and complex.
Who helped Iraq in the 1980s?
During the 1980s, Iraq received military aid and weapons technology from the United States, Britain and West Germany. In December 1983m an American envoy, Donald Rumsfeld, later a US defence secretary, visited Iraq and was photographed shaking hands with Saddam. The Reagan administration continued to support and supply Saddam for the duration of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). This American support included refusing to act after Saddam used chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians.
When did Saddam Hussein die?
Saddam Hussein in 2004. The execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein took place on 30 December 2006. Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging, after being convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the Dujail massacre —the killing of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites in the town of Dujail —in 1982, ...
Who was the military spokesman for Saddam Hussein?
Then it was just a case of finalizing the details.". U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told journalists in Baghdad that after "physical control" of Saddam was given to the Iraqi government, "the multinational force had absolutely no direct involvement with [the execution] whatsoever.".
How many times was Saddam Hussein stabbed?
According to Talal Misrab, the head guard at Saddam's tomb, who also helped in the burial, Saddam was stabbed six times after he was executed. The head of Saddam's tribe, Sheikh Hasan al-Neda, denies this claim. Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's security advisor, stated, "I oversaw the whole process from A-Z and Saddam Hussein's body was not stabbed or mutilated, and he was not humiliated before execution."
What did Saddam say in his letter to the Iraqi people?
In the letter, he urged the Iraqi people to unite, and not to hate the people of countries that invaded Iraq, like the United States, but instead the decision-makers.
What did Saddam do before he was executed?
Two days prior to the execution, a letter written by Saddam appeared on the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party website. In the letter, he urged the Iraqi people to unite, and not to hate the people of countries that invaded Iraq, like the United States, but instead the decision-makers. He said he was ready to die as a martyr and he said that this is his death sentence. In the hours before the execution, Saddam ate his last meal of chicken and rice and had a cup of hot water with honey.
What happened to the Iraqi hangman?
The Iraqi government released an official video of his execution, showing him being led to the gallows, and ending after the hangman's noose was placed over his head. International public controversy arose when a mobile phone recording of the hanging showed him surrounded by a contingent of his countrymen who jeered him in Arabic and praised the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and his subsequent fall through the trap door of the gallows.
Why was Barzan decapitated?
Barzan was decapitated by the rope due to incorrect calculations of his body weight and length of drop. Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid was sentenced to death and was hanged on 25 January 2010.
Overview
Execution
Saddam was hanged on the first day of Eid ul-Adha, 30 December 2006, despite his wish to be executed by firing squad (which he argued was the lawful military capital punishment, citing his military position as the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi military). The execution was carried out at Camp Justice, an Iraqi army base in Kadhimiya, a neighborhood of northeast Baghdad.
Saudi Arabia condemned Iraqi authorities for carrying on with the execution on a holy day. A pre…
Early life
Saddam's brother and father died of cancer before his birth. These deaths made Saddam's mother, Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat, so depressed that she attempted to abort her pregnancy and commit suicide. When her son Saddam was born on 28 April 1937 in Awja, a small village near Tikrit, Subha "would have nothing to do with him," and Saddam was taken in by an uncle.
Rise to power
The Ba'ath Party was originally represented in Qasim's cabinet. The party turned against him for his refusal to join Gamal Abdel Nasser's United Arab Republic (UAR). To strengthen his own position within the government, Qasim created an alliance with the Iraqi Communist Party, which was opposed to any notion of pan-Arabism. Later that year, the Ba'ath Party leadership was planning to assa…
Paramilitary and police organizations
Iraqi society fissures along lines of language, religion and ethnicity. The Ba'ath Party, secular by nature, adopted Pan-Arab ideologies which in turn were problematic for significant parts of the population. Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Iraq faced the prospect of régime change from two Shi'ite factions (Dawa and SCIRI) which aspired to model Iraq on its neighbour Iran as a Shia theocracy. A separate threat to Iraq came from parts of the ethnic Kurdish population of nor…
Political and cultural image
During his leadership, Saddam promoted the idea of dual nationalism which combines Iraqi nationalism and Arab nationalism, a much broader form of ethnic nationalism which supports Iraqi nationalism and links it to matters that impact Arabs as a whole. Saddam Hussein believed that the recognition of the ancient Mesopotamian origins and heritage of Iraqi Arabs was complementary to supp…
Foreign affairs
Iraq's relations with the Arab world have been extremely varied. Relations between Iraq and Egypt violently ruptured in 1977, when the two nations broke relations with each other following Iraq's criticism of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's peace initiatives with Israel. In 1978, Baghdad hosted an Arab League summit that condemned and ostracized Egypt for accepting the Camp David A…
Gulf War
On 2 August 1990, Saddam invaded Kuwait, initially claiming assistance to "Kuwaiti revolutionaries," thus sparking an international crisis. On 4 August an Iraqi-backed "Provisional Government of Free Kuwait" was proclaimed, but a total lack of legitimacy and support for it led to an 8 August announcement of a "merger" of the two countries. On 28 August Kuwait formally became the 19th Governorate of Iraq. Just two years after the 1988 Iraq and Iran truce, "Saddam …
Early Years
Saddam Hussein Enters Politics
- Saddam's uncle, an ardent Arab nationalist, introduced him to the world of politics. Iraq, which had been a British colony from the end of World War I until 1932, was bubbling with internal power struggles. One of the groups vying for power was the Baath Party, to which Saddam's uncle was a member. In 1957 at age 20, Saddam joined the Baath Party. ...
The Dictator of Iraq
- Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq with a brutal hand, using fear and terror to stay in power. He established a secret police force that suppressed internal dissenters and developed a "cult of personality" to build public support. His goal was to become the leader of the Arab world, with territory to include the oil fields of the Persian Gulf. Saddam led Iraq in a war against Iran from 1…
Death
- In October 2005, Saddam was tried by the Iraqi High Tribunal on charges of killing the people of the town of Al-Dujay. After a dramatic nine-month trial, he was found guilty of crimes against humanity, including killing and torture, and was sentenced to death. On December 30, 2006, Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging; his body was later removed to a secret location.
Legacy
- The actions of Saddam Hussein have had a powerful impact on international politics for the 21st century. America's relationship with Iraq and other nations of the Middle East were strongly influenced by the conflicts with Saddam's Iraq. The fall of Saddam in 2003 was pictured around the world with images of his statue being pulled down by cheering Iraqis. Since Saddam's fall, ho…
Sources
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Saddam Hussein.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 18 Jan. 2019.
- “Saddam Hussein Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography, Advameg, Inc.
- "Saddam Caught Like a Rat in a Hole." CNN.com, 15 December 2003.
- “Saddam Hussein Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography.