Saddam Hussein

One of the most influential, hated, talked about political figures of the last 100 years. Saddam has influenced world politics for the last 30 years and will be analyzed for the next 100.

Saddam Hussein was born in the town of Al-Awja, 8 miles (13 km) from the Iraqi town of Tikrit to a family of shepherds. The area has come to be called the Sunni Triangle. Ironically, as history will show, he was given the name Saddam which in Arabic means "One who confronts. Saddam never met his father, had left before he was born, and due to his mother severe depression, he spent years with his uncle until his mother remarried. Saddam’s teens were difficult, his stepfather abused him consistently and eventually he fled to reunite with his uncle a nationalistic activist.

Under the guidance of his uncle, he attended a nationalistic secondary school in Baghdad. In 1957, at age 20, Saddam joined the revolutionary pan-Arab Ba'ath Party. At the time, the leader of Iraq was Faisal II which eventually was overthrown by the army. The Ba’ath party begun working closely with the CIA and Egyptian Intelligence agents to oppose the army dominance. Saddam went into exile, studied in Cairo University and became very familiar with CIA operatives.

The army government was overthrown in 1963 by the Ba’ath Party with the assistance and the blessing of the CIA. . Ba'athist leaders were appointed to the cabinet and Salam Arif became president who in Iraq political fashion quickly severed ties with the party and arrested most of its prominent members. Saddam returned to Iraq, helped overthrow Arif and was named Deputy to the new president, Al-Bakr. Soon after becoming deputy to the president, Saddam demanded and received the rank of four-star general despite his lack of military training. The rise to power had begun and Saddam has learned the lesson of party unity, which he would promote for the rest of his political life.

Saddam always had to deal with Iraq’s lines, Sunni versus Shi'ite, Arab versus Kurd, tribal chief versus peasant. He believed that the only way to overcome these was a strong dominant Ba’ath Party while continuously improving living standards. His modernization plan was unique and commendable. Oil obviously led the way but the profits were used for industrial expansion and universal education. Although the economy was prompted by cities, Saddam focused intensely on fostering loyalty to the Ba'athist government in the rural areas.

In 1976, Saddam rose to the position of general in the Iraqi armed forces, and rapidly became the face of the government. He was the de facto ruler of Iraq some years before he formally came to power in 1979. He slowly began to consolidate his power over Iraq's government and the Ba'ath party. Relationships with fellow party members were carefully cultivated, and Saddam soon accumulated a powerful circle of support within the party. He eventually forced the ailing al-Bakr to resign on July 16, 1979, and formally assumed the presidency. First item in the agenda, accuse all potential opposition leaders for treason, arrest them, charge and execute them.

Saddam saw himself as a social revolutionary and a modernizer. He was impressed with the Nasser model in Egypt and he set to follow it. His government gave women added freedoms and offered them high-level government and industry jobs. Saddam also created a Western-style legal system, making Iraq the only country in the Persian Gulf region not ruled according to traditional Islamic law (Sharia). Saddam abolished the Sharia law courts, except for personal injury claims. Above and beyond everything else, he strongly believed Iraq was destined for greatness.

Saddam justified Iraqi nationalism by claiming a unique role of Iraq in the history of the Arab world. As president, Saddam made frequent references to the Abbasid period, when Baghdad was the political, cultural, and economic capital of the Arab world.

Saddam Hussein darkest period was during the Iran-Iraq war in 1980–88. A protracted military conflict, It officially began on Sept. 22, 1980, with an Iraqi land and air invasion of western Iran, although Saddam maintained that Iran had been engaging in artillery attacks on Iraqi towns since Sept. 4.

Saddam’s reason for his attack on Iran was territorial the Shatt al Arab, a waterway that empties into the Persian Gulf and forms the boundary between Iran and Iraq. In 1975, a militarily weaker Iraq had by treaty signed over to Iran partial control of the waterway, but after the fall (1979) of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi and the resultant weakening of Iran’s military, Iraq seized the opportunity to reclaim the waterway.

Saddam also hoped to seize the western Iranian region of Khuzestan, an area known for its extensive oil fields. The Iraqi offensive was initially successful, capturing the port city of Khorramshahr by the end of 1980. Iranian resistance proved strong, however, and Iraqi troops had withdrawn from the occupied portions of Iran by early 1982. Nevertheless, Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini declared that Iran would not cease fighting until Saddam’s regime was toppled. Iran began a series of offensives, which proved successful enough to cause Iraq to resort to the use of chemical weapons, a tactic reviled by the international community.

The United States and several Western European nations became involved in the war in 1987, in response to Iranian attacks on Kuwaiti oil tankers traveling in the Persian Gulf. These attacks sullied Iran’s international reputation considerably, making it difficult for Khomeini to obtain arms. Finally, in July, 1988, Iran was forced to accept a United Nations–mandated cease-fire. Estimates of the number of dead range up to 1.5 million.

On August 2, 1990, Saddam invaded the oil-rich emirate of Kuwait, Saddam’s long awaited dream to further economic and political development. The US and United Kingdom had common interests in the area with distinct motivations. On the one hand, Kuwait, prior to this point, had been a virulent enemy of Israel and was on friendly terms with the Soviets. On the other hand, Iraq controlled ten percent of the world's crude oil reserves and with the invasion had doubled the percentage. U.S. interests were heavily invested in the region, and the invasion triggered fears that the price of oil, and therefore the world economy, was at stake. The United Kingdom was also concerned. Britain had a close historical relationship with Kuwait, dating back to British colonialism in the region, and also benefited from billions of dollars in Kuwaiti investment. Further, Saudi Arabia, a close ally to the United States since the 1940s opposed the invasion. The US feared retaliation.

After the deadlines for withdrawal were set and the all other measures failed, the U.S. and a group of allies, including countries as diverse as Egypt, Syria and Czechoslovakia, deployed massive amounts of troops along the Saudi border with Kuwait. At the time, Iraq basked the largest Army in the Middle East.

In February of 1991, a ground force of U.S. and British armored and infantry divisions attacked Saddam’s army and entered Iraq from Kuwait in February 1991 and occupied the southern portion of Iraq as far as the Euphrates river. In the end, the over-manned and under-equipped Iraqi army proved unable to compete on the battlefield with the highly mobile coalition land forces and their overpowering air support. As part of the cease-fire agreement, Iraq agreed to abandon all weapons of mass destruction and allow UN observers to inspect the sites. UN trade sanctions would remain in effect until Iraq complied with all terms.

Difficult time for Saddam, he was subjected to continuous scrutiny of international tribunals and constant attacks by his opposition. The UN sanctions placed upon Iraq when it invaded Kuwait were not lifted, blocking Iraqi oil exports. This caused immense hardship in Iraq and virtually destroyed the Iraqi economy and state infrastructure. Only smuggling across the Syrian border and humanitarian aid averted a complete disaster.

During the 1990s a number of events underlined the Saddam problem for Israel and Western governments:

U.S. officials continued to accuse Saddam Hussein of violating the terms of the Gulf War's cease fire, by developing weapons of mass destruction,

Continuous military action against sites allegedly containing weapons of mass destruction in 1998 1999 even as late as 2001,

In October 1998, President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act. The act called for "regime change" in Iraq and authorizes the funding of opposition groups,

Saddam reportedly continued to make contact with terrorist organization around the world and upped his open financial support of Palestinian terrorist groups,

Use of chemical weapons against the Kurds became news around the world and created an outcry.

At home, Saddam was forced to rule with an iron fist in order to maintain stability order. The face of his regime became his sons, known psychopaths and torturers. And the 9/11 happened.

Post the 9/11 attacks, neo-conservatists were ruling foreign policy. Bush and his cabinet repeatedly linked the Hussein government to the attacks on the basis of an alleged meeting in Prague in April 2001 involving an Iraqi intelligence agent and other evidence. The link was never officially confirmed but the US decided to disregard international denial and invade. The decision was made way before his January 2002 state-of-the-union message to Congress, President George W. Bush spoke of an "axis of evil" comprised of Iran, North Korea, and Iraq. Moreover, GW announced that he would possibly take action to topple the Iraqi government. Bush stated, "The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade." Bush went on to say "Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror."

The Iraqi government and military collapsed within three weeks of the beginning of the 2003 invasion of Iraq on March 20. The United States made at least two attempts to kill Saddam with targeted air strikes, but both failed to hit their target. By the beginning of April, Coalition forces occupied much of Iraq. Baghdad fell in April while Hussein was still attempting to organize an escape.

The Saddam trials concentrated on genocide and crimes against humanity. Particular attention has been paid to violent use of weapons of mass destruction against the Kurds in the north, and the Shiites in the south. In his original, defense Saddam asserted that he had been unlawfully overthrown, and is still the president of Iraq.

The first trial of Saddam Hussein began before the Iraqi Special Tribunal on October 19, 2005. In this case Hussein, along with seven other defendants, was tried for allegations of crimes against humanity with regard to events that took place after a failed assassination attempt in Dujail in 1982. A second and separate trial began in August 2006 trying Saddam, along with six other co-defendants, for genocide during the Anfal military campaign against the Kurds of Northern Iraq. On November 5, 2006, Saddam was sentenced to death by hanging. On December 26th 2006, the sentence was upheld by the Iraqi Supreme Court. He was then hung on December 30th, 2006, and Saddam will remain in our history as a convicted criminal and will still have a tremendous effect on Middle East development and history.

Experts have predicted that Iraq could break into three parts. The Kurds in the north, the Sunni’s in the central area and the Shiite’s in the south. The US led coalition is working hard to insure that Iraq remains a unified and democratic country. However at the writing, internal and external forces have created a highly fragmented country.