Historical Figure
Saddam Hussein
d. 2006
President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003
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Biography
Saddam Hussein was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 during the United States-led invasion of Iraq. He previously served as the vice president from 1968 to 1979 and also as the prime minister from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. A leading member of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, he was a proponent of Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism. The policies and ideologies he championed are collectively known as Saddamism, a right-wing variant of Ba'athism.
In Their Own Words (5)
The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun.... The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins!
Broadcast on Baghdad state radio, January 17, 1991. , 1991
Our children should be taught to beware of everything foreign and not to disclose any state or party secrets to foreigners... for foreigners are eyes for their countries, and some of them are counterrevolutionary instruments [in the hands of imperialism].
al-Dimuqratiyya Masdar Quwwa li al-Fard wa al-Mujtama, 1977, quoted in Saddam Hussein: a political biography (2002) by Efraim Karsh and Inari Rautsi. , 2002
The United States reaps the thorns that its leaders have planted in the world. These thorns have not only caused the feet and hearts of certain people to bleed, but also caused the eyes of the people to bleed - those people who wept a lot over their dead.... This was the case in Japan, which was the first to suffer from the capabilities of nuclear destruction on which the United States prides itself. This also includes what it did in Vietnam and Iraq and what it did against the Russian nuclear submarine... The United States has become a burden on all of us. It threatens our security and that of the world on a daily basis... Why do you drive the world to this point, and why do you stab the world with a dagger?
Baghdad Television, September 12 2001, quoted in Saddam Hussein: a political biography (2002) by Efraim Karsh and Inari Rautsi. , 2002
Iraq is a great nation now, as it has been at times throughout history. Nations generally "go to the top" only once. Iraq, however, has been there many times, before and after Islam. Iraq is the only nation like this in the world. This "gift" was given to the Iraqi people by God. When Iraqi people fall, they rise again.
In response to guffaws from a spectator in an overhead gallery during his trial, 2006. , 2006
You Americans, you treat the Third World in the way an Iraqi peasant treats his new bride. Three days of honeymoon, and then it's off to the fields
Meeting with US State Department officials (1985), as quoted in The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Gulf War (2002) by Charles Jaco, p. 23. , 1985
Timeline
The story of Saddam Hussein, told in moments.
Born near Tikrit into a Sunni Arab family. His father dies or disappears before his birth. His stepfather beats him. He moves to Baghdad at 10 to live with an uncle who teaches him that "Three whom God should not have created: Persians, Jews, and flies." He joins the Ba'ath Party at 20.
Takes power after President al-Bakr's "resignation." Calls a televised meeting of Ba'ath Party leadership. Reads names from a list. Each named person is escorted out. Some are executed that same week by their own colleagues. The survivors give him a standing ovation. It's all on tape.
Invades Iran. The war lasts eight years. Chemical weapons deployed at Halabja kill 5,000 Kurdish civilians in a single attack. An estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 die on both sides. It ends in stalemate. Neither border moves.
Invades Kuwait. Accuses them of slant-drilling into Iraqi oil reserves. A US-led coalition of 35 nations drives him out in 42 days during Operation Desert Storm. He stays in power. Suppresses the Kurdish and Shia uprisings that follow. The coalition lets him.
Captured by US soldiers in a hole near Tikrit. The "spider hole" is six feet deep. He has a pistol, $750,000 in cash, and a long beard. "I am the president of Iraq," he tells his captors. "I am willing to negotiate." They don't negotiate.
Hanged at Camp Justice in Baghdad. Convicted of crimes against humanity for the 1982 massacre of 148 Shia villagers in Dujail. Guards chant the name of Muqtada al-Sadr as the trapdoor opens. Cell phone video leaks within hours. He is 69.
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