Saddam Hussein

Dictator of Iraq (1979-2003)

• Born: April 28, 1937
• Birthplace: al-Awja, near Tikrit, Iraq
• Died: December 30, 2006
• Place of death: Baghdad, Iraq

Hussein led a brutal regime that ruthlessly suppressed internal dissension and sought to elevate the country to a regional power through wars with Iran and Kuwait. He became a symbol of Arab nationalism and was deposed by U.S. forces in Iraq in 2003, was tried by an Iraqi tribunal, and was executed in 2006.

Early Life

Saddam Hussein (sah-DAHM hew-SAYN) was born in Al-Awja, near Tikrit, Iraq. His father, Hussein Abid al-Majid, disappeared six months before his son was born, leaving Hussein’s mother, Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat, to raise him alone; she later remarried. Hussein attended school in Baghdad and became a fervent nationalist and secularist. He studied law for several years but dropped out of college in 1957 to join the revolutionary Baՙth Socialist Party.

Hussein became increasingly active in politics following the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958. He participated in a U.S.-supported coup to depose the revolutionary regime the following year. The plot failed and Hussein went into exile, but he returned in 1963 when the Baՙthists became part of the government. However, the Baՙthists were purged later in the year and Hussein was arrested and imprisoned in 1964. He escaped three years later and was one of the leaders of the opposition movement that came to power in 1968.

Hussein was appointed a deputy to the president in 1969 and made a general in the army. During the next decade, the future dictator endeavored to strengthen and increase the power and influence of the Baՙth Party. He also oversaw an economic modernization program. Growing revenues from oil exports allowed Iraq to expand its social services. By 1976, Hussein had became the real leader of Iraq, although the country was nominally led by President Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr. Hussein developed a reputation as a staunch anticommunist and an opponent of fundamentalist Islam. He had U.S. support in 1979 when he overthrew al-Bakr and declared himself president.

Life’s Work

As president, Hussein continued his modernization program and implemented a number of measures to suppress religious conservatives. Throughout the early years of his reign, the president faced opposition from Shiite and Kurdish groups, and his power rested on the 20 percent of the population that was Sunni and who supported the Baՙthist Party. Hussein consolidated control by creating a cult of personality and launching successive campaigns of repression against his political opponents. Officially, the regime embraced pan-Arabism, but it also developed close ties with Western countries, particularly France. Hussein opposed the Camp David Accords of 1978 and sought to undermine Egypt’s position as a leading force in the Middle East.

Hussein initiated a series of programs to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). By the early 1980’s, Iraq had a substantial arsenal of chemical weapons, including mustard gas and various nerve agents. The regime used chemical weapons against opposition groups, including the Kurds. Iraq also built a nuclear reactor, but the facility was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in 1981.

In 1980, fighting broke out between Iraqi and Iranian forces over a disputed waterway. The border skirmish evolved into a full-scale war. With support from the United States and other Western powers, Hussein sought to topple the fundamentalist Shiite government of Iran and secure Iraq’s place as the dominant regional power. The war lasted until 1988 and ended essentially in a stalemate, despite the loss of more than 1 million people on both sides of the conflict. The war also left Iraq with a debt of more than $75 billion.

In August, 1990, Hussein ordered the invasion of Kuwait in an effort to gain new resources to help pay the external debt from the Iran-Iraq War and to bolster domestic spending on social programs. Iraqi forces quickly overran Kuwait, but the invasion was condemned by the United Nations (U.N.), which authorized the formation of a U.S.-led military coalition to liberate Kuwait. The 1991 Persian Gulf War was a humiliating defeat for Hussein, whose country soon faced a series of economic and military sanctions implemented by the United Nations Security Council. The regime was ordered to destroy its WMDs under U.N. supervision, and no-fly zones were established over northern and southern Iraq (the northern Kurdish areas were able to gain a high degree of autonomy).

Throughout the 1990’s, Hussein attempted to have the sanctions ended or, at minimum, reduced. He also initiated a series of smuggling operations to evade the sanctions. The U.N. Oil-for-Food Program was initiated to provide food and humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people, but the regime used the effort as a means to enrich senior Baՙthists. Hussein provoked air and missile strikes by the United States and allied nations on several occasions for reasons including the following: a failed plot to assassinate former U.S. president George H. W. Bush in 1993; unlawful Iraqi military action against the Kurds in 1996; and noncompliance with U.N. weapons inspections, including the forced removal of U.N. personnel in 1998. In response the United States enacted the Iraq Liberation Act (1998), in which regime change in Iraq became an official policy goal of the United States.

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States , U.S. president George W. Bush identified Iraq, along with Iran and North Korea, as members of a so-called axis of evil seeking to destabilize the world. As tensions mounted, Hussein offered limited cooperation with new U.N. inspections. Meanwhile, the Bush administration asserted that Iraq continued to pursue WMDs and that the Iraqi regime supported international terrorists, including al-Qaeda. U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003. Within a month, Baghdad had been captured and Hussein went into hiding. He was apprehended by U.S. troops on December 13, 2003. In June of the following year, Hussein was transferred to the custody of the interim Iraqi government, which announced plans to put the former dictator and senior members of his regime on trial for crimes against humanity. On November 5, 2006, after a long and controversial trial, Hussein was convicted of ordering the executions of Shiites and sentenced to death. He was hanged on December 30, 2006, in Baghdad.

Significance

Hussein endeavored to make Iraq the leading regional power in the Persian Gulf. He emerged as a leading proponent of secular nationalism in the region and consistently sought to suppress Islamic fundamentalism. However, his regime was one of the most ruthless in the Middle East, killing an estimated 400,000 Iraqis during his rule and torturing or imprisoning countless others. Hussein’s military actions against Iran and Kuwait killed thousands of others. Nonetheless, Hussein was viewed by many in the Arab world as a symbol of resistance against the West, especially in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War.

The inability of successive U.S. administrations to force Hussein’s compliance with U.N. resolutions or to remove him from power was widely considered as manifestations of weakness on the part of the West. While Hussein’s removal from power following the 2003 invasion of Iraq led to the first free and open elections in Iraqi history, the postwar insurgency and continued occupation undermined the global reputation of the United States and served to fuel Islamic terrorism in the region.

Bibliography

Aburish, Said K. Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. A detailed biography of Hussein that also explores the machinations of his regime and the tactics that kept him in power for more than twenty years.

Henderson, Simon. Instant Empire: Saddam Hussein’s Ambition for Iraq. San Francisco, Calif.: Mercury House, 1991. An overview of Hussein’s goals for Iraq from the time he gained power through the Persian Gulf War. Includes biographical information about the Iraqi leader.

Johnson, James Turner. The War to Oust Saddam Hussein: Just War and the New Face of Conflict. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. An examination of the arguments for and against the 2003 Iraq War and an analysis of the impact of the conflict on future U.S. policy.

Karsh, Efrain, and Inari Rautsi. Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography. 1991. Reprint. New York: Grove Press, 2002. One of the best biographies of Hussein that traces the Iraqi leader’s rise to power and presents his political views on Iraq and the broader balance of power in the Persian Gulf.

Mackey, Sandra. The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein. New York: Norton, 2002. Discusses the rise of Hussein, the influences that shaped his outlook on the world, and the impact of the regime on the future of Iraq.

Rezun, Miron. Saddam Hussein’s Gulf Wars: Ambivalent Stakes in the Middle East. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1992. An exploration of Hussein’s motivations in the Iran-Iraq War and the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Focuses on the Iraqi leader’s efforts to make the country the most powerful state in the region.