Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq from 1979 to 2003 and was executed after being deposed by an American invasion. Born near Tikrit in 1937 to a landless family, his father disappeared before his birth and he was raised partly by an uncle who had taken part in the pro-Axis coup of 1941. He joined the Ba'ath Party in 1957 and took part in a failed attempt to assassinate the prime minister Qasim in 1959, escaping to Egypt. After the Ba'athist coup of 1968 he became the party's security chief and effective deputy to President al-Bakr, building an internal security apparatus and nationalising the oil industry in 1972 — the revenue from which funded genuine achievements in literacy, electrification and health that are usually omitted from accounts of him. He took the presidency in July 1979 and immediately convened a party assembly at which names were read out and members led from the room to be shot, with the proceedings filmed. He invaded Iran in 1980, expecting a short war; it lasted eight years and killed perhaps a million people. He used chemical weapons against Iranian troops and against his own Kurdish citizens, gassing Halabja in March 1988 and killing thousands, and the Anfal campaign destroyed thousands of villages. He invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and was expelled by a coalition in 1991, then suppressed the Shia and Kurdish uprisings that followed with great violence. Sanctions ruined the country for twelve years. The United States and Britain invaded in March 2003 on the claim that he held weapons of mass destruction; none were found. He was captured in December 2003 and hanged in December 2006.
- Lived: 1937 CE – 2006 CE
- Nationality: Iraqi
- Roles: President of Iraq (1979-2003)
