Saddam Hussein
He’s easily the world’s most well-known but least well-liked Arab leader of all time.
Saddam Hussein was the president and harsh dictator of Iraq for almost a quarter of a century—from 1979 until April 9, 2003, when he was officially overthrown and deposed by a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Later that year, on December 13, he was captured by the forces.
Hussein was born on April 28, 1937 in Tikrit, Iraq. Since early November 2006, has been sentenced to death by hanging after being convicted by the Iraq Special Tribunal of crimes against humanity. This sentence is currently being appealed.
Way back when he was studying in university, Hussein joined the revolutionary Baath Arab Socialist Party, and in 1958 he officially “launched” his political career after he assassinated a supporter of the then-Iraqi ruler, Abdul-Karim Qassim. He rose to power after playing a key role in the 1968 Baath coup.
Hussein was first the vice-president under his weak cousin General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, creating and controlling conflict between the Iraqi government and the country’s armed forces with oppressive and authoritarian security and exercising strict dictatorship. This type of leadership only increased after he became president in 1979. As chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council and fifth president of from 1979 until 2003, Hussein was preceded by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and succeeded by the Coalition Provisional Authority.
During his reign, Hussein was noted for leading his country through the Iran-Iraq War from 1980 until 1988 and the Gulf War in 1991. President George H W Bush and Colin Powell, the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, led the force in the Gulf War, running Hussein and his army out of Iraq.
Even though he was popular with some Arabs for his strong leadership and ability to stand up to the USA, international leaders became suspicious of Hussein’s leadership style and specific actions after the first Gulf War.
About a decade after the war, President George H W Bush’s son, President George W Bush put pressure on Hussein and eventually led an invasion leading to his demise and ultimate capture in his birth town of Tikrit at the end of 2003.
Hussein was a member of the Sunni Muslim religion and had at least three wives. Sajida Talfah is his first wife and first cousin, with whom he has shared an arranged marriage since 1963, and with whom he has five children: sons Uday and Qusay, who were killed by the forces in July 2003, and daughters Raghad, Rana, and Hala.
Sajida fled Iraq in April 2003 and the Iraq national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie recently announced she is on the Iraqi government’s most wanted list for a number of crimes, including murder, attempted assassination, embezzlement, and the ordering of torture.
Samira Shahbandar, Hussein’s second wife, was introduced to him through one of his favorite servants, Kemal Hana Gegeo, who was later stabbed to death by Uday. She is allegedly the mother of Hussein’s third son, Ali, although it has been disputed that Ali is his grandson.
Nidal al-Hamdani was his third wife, and Hussein may have a fourth wife, Wafa el-Mullah al-Howeish.
It has often been assumed, Hussein is a relation to King Hussein, the late ruler of Jordan, who lived from 1935 until 1999.
On November 5 2006 Saddam and two other defendants were sentenced to death by hanging for the killings of 148 people in a village in Iraq. Saddam Hussein was put to death by handing on Friday, December 29, 2006. |
