Saddam Hussein

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Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council
5th President of Iraq
In office
July 16, 1979 - April 9, 2003
Preceded by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
Succeeded by Coalition Provisional Authority
Prime Minister of Iraq
In office
1979 - 1991
1994 - 2003
Preceded by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
Ahmad Husayn Khudayir as-Samarrai
Succeeded by Sa'dun Hammadi
Iyad Allawi
Born April 28, 1937
Al-Awja
Died December 30, 2006
Kadhimiya
Political party Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party
Spouse Sajida Talfah

Samira Shahbandar
Nidal al-Hamdani
Religion Sunni Muslim

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (Arabic: صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي Ṣaddām Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Tikrītī[1]; April 28, 1937[2] - December 30, 2006[3]), was the President of Iraq from July 16, 1979, until April 9, 2003.[4] [5]

As vice president under his cousin, General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Saddam tightly controlled conflict between the government and the armed forces by creating repressive security forces and cementing his own authority over the apparatus of government.

As president and head of the Baath Party, Saddam espoused secular pan-Arabism, economic modernization, and Arab socialism. Meanwhile, he consolidated one-party rule and maintained power through the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and the Gulf War (1991). Saddam repressed movements he deemed threatening to the stability of his rule, particularly those of ethnic or religious groups that sought independence or autonomy, such as Iraq's Shi'a Muslim, Kurdish and Turkmen populations.

Saddam's government collapsed as a result of the 2003 invasion of Iraq by an international coalition led by the United States, and he was captured by American forces on December 13, 2003. On November 5, 2006, he was convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraq Special Tribunal and was sentenced to death by hanging.[6]

On December 26, 2006, Saddam's appeal was rejected and the death sentence upheld. He was executed in front of lawyers, officials, and a doctor at approximately 6:00 a.m. UTC+3 (03:10 UTC) on December 30, 2006, according to Iraqi television.[7]

Contents

* 1 Youth
* 2 Rise to power
o 2.1 Modernization program
o 2.2 Succession
* 3 Saddam Hussein as a secular leader
* 4 Foreign affairs
o 4.1 The Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)
o 4.2 Tensions with Kuwait
* 5 The Gulf War
* 6 1991-2003
* 7 2003 invasion of Iraq
* 8 Escape and capture
o 8.1 Escape
+ 8.1.1 Capture
+ 8.1.2 Incarceration
* 9 Trial
* 10 Execution
* 11 Government positions held by Saddam Hussein
* 12 Marriage and family relationships
* 13 References
* 14 See also
* 15 External links

Youth

Saddam Hussein abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was born in the town of Al-Awja, 13 km (8 mi) from the Iraqi town of Tikrit in the Sunni Triangle, to a family of shepherds from the al-Begat tribal group. His mother, Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat, named her newborn son Saddam, which in Arabic means "One who confronts." He never knew his father, Hussein 'Abd al-Majid, who disappeared six months before Saddam was born. He was the son of Musa Al-Kazim, one of the Sunni Imams of the Ahlul Bait. Shortly afterward, Saddam's thirteen-year-old brother died of cancer. The infant Saddam was sent to the family of his maternal uncle, Khairallah Talfah, until he was three.[8]

His mother remarried, and Saddam gained three half-brothers through this marriage. His stepfather, Ibrahim al-Hassan, treated Saddam harshly after his return. At around ten, Saddam fled the family and returned to live in Baghdad with his uncle, Kharaillah Tulfah. Tulfah, the father of Saddam's future wife, was a devout Sunni Muslim and a veteran from the Iraqi-British war of 1941. Later in his life, relatives from his native Tikrit would become some of his closest advisors and supporters. According to Saddam, he learned many things from his uncle, a militant Iraqi nationalist. Under the guidance of his uncle, he attended a nationalistic secondary school in Baghdad. After secondary school, Saddam studied at Iraq's School of Law for three years, prior to dropping out in 1957, at the age of twenty, to join the revolutionary pan-Arab Ba'ath Party, of which his uncle was a supporter. During this time, Saddam apparently supported himself as a secondary school teacher.[9]

Revolutionary sentiment was characteristic of the era in Iraq and throughout