Saddam Hussein Biography

Saddam Hussein was Iraq’s fifth president, and he served as a president for more than two decades. Later, he was figured as head of the country’s military and many conflicts arose between Iran and the United States. Saddam Hussein was a well-known secularist, which means always fighting for his country's well being. He became president through the Baath political party and was named for the dictatorial presidency.  During his period, people who belonged to oil wealth enjoyed a lot under his leadership. But later Iraq had military conflicts with US armed forces and captured Saddam Hussien in 2003. Later, Saddam Hussein's death was crucial, he hanged himself to death. 

Saddam Hussein Family

Saddam Hussein's family belongs to Tikrit of Iraq. Saddam Hussein's birthday falls on 28th April 1937. The Father of Hussein, Hussein 'Abd al-Majid, was a shepherd and he disappeared several months before his birth. Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat is a mother of Saddam hussein. Few months after his birth, the elder brother of Hussein died due to cancer. Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein’s mother was severely depressed by her eldest son’s death and missing her husband. So, she cannot take care of Saddam Hussein effectively. While Hussein was at the age of three, he was sent to Baghdad to live with Khairallah Talfah, who is the Uncle of Saddam Hussein.  After a few years, he returned to Al-Awja to live with his mother. But he suffered a lot at the hand of his stepfather. So, he escaped again to Baghdad to survive with Talfah. His uncle was devoted to Sunni Muslims and ardent Arab nationalists, so young Saddam also had profoundly influenced by his uncle’s thoughts.

Political Entry in Hussain Biography

He completed his schooling at the nationalistic al-Karh Secondary School in Baghdad. In 1957, the age of Saddam Hussein was about 20 years, he joined the Baath Party. Usually, the party of these members has the ultimate ideological aim of the unity of Arab states in the Middle East.  On 7th October 1959, Hussein and other people from the Ba-ath Party attempted to assassinate the first president of Iraq, Abd al-Karim Qasim. Because he stood against joining the nascent United Arab Republic and alliance with Iraq's communist party had made him act against the Ba'athists. While they were attempting to kill Qasim, they killed the servant of Qasim. Even after several attempts and shots, Qasim survived. During this attempt, Saddam got shots in his leg. Many forces tried to catch the attempted person, but somehow Saddam and other people managed to escape to Syria. Later he escaped to Egypt and attended law school.

Saddam Hussein In Power 

In 1963, the government of Qasim was thrown off due to the  Ramadan Revolution. Meanwhile, Saddam returned to Iraq and got arrested the next year as he fought with the Baath Party.  While he stayed in prison, he stayed tuned to know about politics. He escaped from prison and spent years together to strengthen his political power. In 1966, he was appointed as the deputy secretary of the Regional Command.

In 1968, Saddam remained bloodless but he remained successful in the Ba'athist coup. So, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr became president of Iraq and  Saddam Hussein became deputy president. During Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr’s presidency, Hussein proved himself as an effective and progressive politician and he turned ruthless. He modernized Iraq’s infrastructure, health care system and Industries. He also raised education and farming subsidies, social services to level the unparalleled economy in other Arab countries in the region. In 1973, the whole world underwent an energy crisis. So, Saddam Hussein nationalized Iraq’s Oil Industries. This created massive revenue for the nation. At the same time, Saddam planned to develop Iraq’s first chemical weapon program. He also guards against coups and created powerful security apparatus. But the Ba'athist paramilitary groups and army people were frequently involved in torturing, rapes and assassinating people to attain their goal. Even Saddam Hussien killed many people.

In 1979, al-Bakr attempted to unite Iraq and Syria. During this move, Saddam Hussein remains powerless inside the country. So, Saddam forced al-Bakr to step down from his position.  On 16th July 1979, Saddam Hussein took charge as the president of Iraq. Within a week after taking charge as president, he called heads from Baath Party for assembly. During this meeting, he listed 68 names and announced the names. All the people on the list were arrested and removed from the room. In that 22 people were hanged to death. Before August 1979, he executed hundreds of Saddam's political foes.

Conflicts During His Presidency 

In 1979, Saddam Hussein was raised as President of Iraq. Meanwhile, Ayatollah Khomeini served as a successful Islamic revolution in Iraq's neighbour to the northeast, Iran. While Saddam Hussein was in power, he supported  Iraq's minority Sunni population and worried about developments in Shi-ite majority Iran, which helped for the uprising in Iraq. On 22nd September 1980, Saddam Hussein ordered  Iraqi forces to invade Khuzestan in Iran, which is one of the oil-rich zones. This conflict arose in the war. But the western Arab nations have not interfered in the war and they remained fearful of spreading Islamic radicalism. This means they indirectly supported Saddam and Iraq clearly violated international law. During these conflicts, all the international community and other countries were in fear about using chemical weapons in Iraq. This may impact the whole world. On 20th August 1988, the war came down and thousands of deaths occurred on both sides and finally ended with a ceasefire agreement.

In the Saddam Hussein story, He took many steps to revitalize Iraq's war-ravaged economy and infrastructure. During the end of 1980, Saddam again spotted the attention toward Iraq's wealthy neighbour, Kuwait. He gave the justification that Kuwait was a historical part of Iraq. On 2nd August 1990, Hussein ordered his commanders to invade Kuwait. Later, the UN Security Council resolution also promptly passed and imposed economic sanctions on Iraq and marked the deadline for Iraqi forces to leave Kuwait. But Iraq ignored the deadline on 15th January 1991. A UN coalition force, which was headed by the US, landed in Kuwait and returned the Iraq power back to their land. Again a ceasefire agreement was made, which included Iraq dismantling its germ and chemical weapons programs. And they levied the previously imposed economic sanctions on Iraq.

The gulf war again increased the hardship of Iraq. The Iraqi population is already facing huge religious conflicts. In the 1990s various Shi-ite and Kurdish uprisings took place. To control the moment Iraq was kept under intense international scrutiny. In 1993, the Iraqi air force violated the rules of the UN and flew in a no-fly zone. Iraq also violated the bar and continued producing weapons. In 1998, the United States launched a dangerous missile attack on Baghdad to control all the acts of Iraq against the UN.

Hussein Diminishing From Power

The Bush government started suspecting that the Hussein government had joined hands with  Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization. In January 2002, the state of the union addressed U.S. President George W. Bush. And named Iraq and North Korea as a part of the "Axis of Evil". Other states also targeted that the country was developing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorism.

After a few years, the United Nations inspected the weapon sites that began in Iraq and they could not find enough evidence about the programs. On 20th March 2003, the UN along with the U.S.-led coalition attacked the weapon program. Also, the US-led coalition invaded Iraq. On 9th April 2003, the government and military of Iraq collapsed and Saddam Hussein managed to escape from his house.

Why Saddam Hussein Was Executed?

The US army intensively searched for Saddam Hussein. While Hussein hid in the secret place, Saddam released many audios, in which he announced against Iraq’s invaders and invited for resistance. On 13th December 2003, the US army found the spot of Saddam, which was a small underground bunker near a farmhouse in ad-Dawr, near Tikrit. Later he was moved to a UN base from Baghdad, and he remained stable until 30th June 2004. Then, he got officially handed over to the interim Iraqi government, as they stood trial for crimes against humanity.

During the subsequent trial to prove facts from his side. But he failed in many cases. Many had questions about how Saddam Hussein died. Saddam Hussein's death date was 5th November 2006 because he was found guilty and sentenced to death.  Later, the sentence was appealed in court for justice. On 30th December 2006, Camp Justice at Iraqi base Baghdad also said that Saddam was hanged even though he was shot dead. On 31st December 2006, Hussein was buried in  Al-Awja, which was near to his birthplace.