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Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti [c] (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. He also served as prime minister of Iraq from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003.
- Himself
- Al-Awja
- Overview
- Early life
- Presidency
- Trial and execution
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 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.
Saddam Hussein (born April 28, 1937, Al-ʿAwjah, Iraq—died December 30, 2006, Baghdad) president of Iraq (1979–2003) whose brutal rule was marked by costly and unsuccessful wars against neighbouring countries.
Saddam, the son of peasants, was born in a village near the city of Tikrīt in northern Iraq. The area was one of the poorest in the country, and Saddam himself grew up in poverty. His father died before he was born, and he went at an early age to live with an uncle in Baghdad.
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He joined the Baʿath Party in 1957. In 1959 he participated in an unsuccessful attempt by Baʿathists to assassinate the Iraqi prime minister, ʿAbd al-Karīm Qāsim; Saddam was wounded in the attempt and escaped first to Syria and then to Egypt. He attended Cairo Law School (1962–63) and continued his studies at Baghdad Law College after the Baʿathists took power in Iraq in 1963. The Baʿathists were overthrown that same year, however, and Saddam spent several years in prison in Iraq. He escaped, becoming a leader of the Baʿath Party, and was instrumental in the coup that brought the party back to power in 1968. Saddam effectively held power in Iraq along with the head of state, Pres. Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr, and in 1972 he directed the nationalization of Iraq’s oil industry.
Saddam began to assert open control of the government in 1979 and became president upon Bakr’s resignation. He then became chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and prime minister, among other positions. 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.
Saddam launched an invasion of Iran’s oil fields in September 1980, but the campaign bogged down in a war of attrition. 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. Despite the large foreign debt with which Iraq found itself saddled by war’s end, Saddam continued to build up his armed forces.
In August 1990 the Iraqi army overran neighbouring Kuwait. Saddam apparently intended to use that nation’s vast oil revenues to bolster Iraq’s economy, but his occupation of Kuwait quickly triggered a worldwide trade embargo against Iraq. He ignored appeals to withdraw his forces from Kuwait, despite the buildup of a large U.S.-led military force in Saudi Arabia and the passage of United Nations (UN) resolutions condemning the occupation and authorizing the use of force to end it. The Persian Gulf War began on January 16, 1991, and ended six weeks later when the allied military coalition drove Iraq’s armies out of Kuwait. 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 tortured and murdered, many simply disappearing into the regime’s prisons, such as the notorious Abu Ghraib.
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As part of the cease-fire agreement with the UN, Iraq was prohibited from producing or possessing chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. Numerous sanctions were leveled on the country pending compliance, and those caused severe disruption of the economy. Saddam’s continued refusal to cooperate with UN arms inspectors led to a four-day air strike by the United States and Great Britain in late 1998 (Operation Desert Fox). Both countries announced that they would support efforts of the Iraqi opposition to unseat Saddam, whose regime had grown increasingly brutal under UN sanctions, but the Iraqi leader barred UN weapons inspectors from entering his country. In the interim it became clear that Saddam was grooming one of his sons—Uday or Qusay—to succeed him. Both were elevated to senior positions, and both mirrored the brutality of their father. Moreover, Saddam continued to solidify his control at home, while he struck a profoundly defiant and anti-American stance in his rhetoric. Though increasingly feared at home, Saddam was viewed by many in the Arab world as the only regional leader willing to stand up to what they saw as American aggression.
In October 2005 Saddam went on trial before the Iraqi High Tribunal, a panel court established to try officials of the former Iraqi government. He and several codefendants were charged with the killing of 148 townspeople in Al-Dujayl, a mainly Shiʿi town, in 1982. Throughout the nine-month trial, Saddam interrupted the proceedings with angry outbur...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Apr 2, 2014 · Learn about the life and rise to power of Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq who ruled for more than two decades and faced military conflicts with Iran and the United States. Find out how he rose through the Ba'ath Party, invaded Kuwait, used chemical weapons and was executed by the U.S.
The execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein took place on 30 December 2006. Saddam 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, in retaliation for an assassination attempt ...
- 30 December 2006; 16 years ago
May 15, 2019 · Learn about the life and rise to power of Saddam Hussein, the ruthless leader of Iraq from 1979 to 2003, who faced challenges from the United States and his own people. Find out how he rose to power, ruled Iraq with terror, and was executed by U.S. troops after being tried for crimes against humanity.
- Jennifer Rosenberg
For the full article, see Saddam Hussein . Ṣaddām Ḥussein, (born April 28, 1937, Tikrīt, Iraq—died Dec. 30, 2006, Baghdad), President of Iraq (1979–2003). He joined the Baʿth Party in 1957. Following participation in a failed attempt to assassinate Iraqi Pres. ʿAbd al-Karīm Qāsim in 1959, Ṣaddām fled to Cairo, where he briefly ...
Saddam Hussein led Iraq from 1979 to 2003 and was overthrown and executed in 2006. His legacy is a divisive issue in Iraq, with some Iraqis nostalgic for his repression and others horrified by his brutality. Explore how he projected an image of himself, manipulated his public support, and influenced the war and the culture of Iraq.
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