User:Orcasgirl/Saddam Hussein
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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]
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي | |
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Former 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 | |
Preceded by | Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr |
Succeeded by | Sa'dun Hammadi |
In office 1994–2003 | |
Preceded by | Ahmad Husayn Khudayir as-Samarrai |
Succeeded by | Iyad Allawi |
Personal details | |
Born | April 28, 1937 Al-Awja |
Died | December 30, 2006(2006-12-30) (aged 69) Kadhimiya |
Political party | Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party |
Spouse | Sajida Talfah |
A leading member of the revolutionary Ba'ath Party, which espoused secular pan-Arabism, economic modernization, and socialism, Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup that brought the party to long-term power. As vice president under the ailing General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Saddam tightly controlled conflict between the government and the armed forces—at a time when many other groups were considered capable of overthrowing the government—by creating repressive security forces. In the early 1970s, Saddam spearheaded Iraq's nationalization of the Western-owned Iraq Petroleum Company, which had long held a monopoly on the country's oil. Through the 1970s, Saddam cemented his authority over the apparatuses of government as Iraq's economy grew at a rapid pace.[6]
As president, Saddam maintained power through the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and the first Persian Gulf War (1991). During these conflicts, Saddam repressed movements he deemed threatening to the stability of Iraq, particularly Shi'a and Kurdish movements seeking to overthrow the government or gain independence, respectively. While he remained a popular hero among many disaffected Arabs everywhere for standing up to the West and for his support for the Palestinians,[7]
Throughout the 1980s Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, and James Baker, Secretary of State, and Robert Gates, C.I.A. Director, worked to improve political and economic relations with Iraq. They did this in order to defeat and neutralize the Islamic fundamentalists of Iran which they perceived as an enemy at the time. Despite reports of Iraq's use of chemical weapons and Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons ambitions, the U.S. still barred the export of U.S. military equipment to Iraq, some was evidently provided on a "don't ask - don't tell" basis.
In April 1984, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense purchased helicopters which were not to be "in any way configured for military use" from Bell Helicopter Textron. . Congressional investigations found that Saddam Hussein was being financed through U.S. entities such as the Export-Import Bank, CCC and Eximbank. The United States Embassy in other countries were also used for cargo shipments to Saddam. On December 10, 1983 Donald Rumsfeld visits directly with Saddam Hussein. According to the head of the U.S interest section in Baghdad they told the Iraqi Under Secretary Mohammed al-Sahhaf that "the establishment of direct contact between an envoy of President Reagan and President Saddam Hussein." will be "perhaps the greatest benefit" of Donald Rumsfeld's upcoming visit to Baghdad. Document 28
Soon after attacks on the World Trade Centers, September 11th, 2001 the Bush administration declared that Saddam Hussein and his regime was a threat to the U.S.
"The Iraqi regime . . . possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons," Bush said in a speech in Cincinnati (10/7/02). "We've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas." Remarks by the President on Iraq
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised," Bush said in a March 17, 2003 address to the nation. Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation
U.S. President Bush admitted that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the September 11th 2001 attacks. "We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the 11 September attacks," Mr Bush confirmed in January 2003. He also has corrected his previous statement, the reason stated for invading Iraq, that Iraqi government had no weapons of mass destruction.
Captured by U.S. forces on December 13, 2003, Saddam was brought to trial under the Iraqi interim government set up by U.S.-led forces. On November 5, 2006, he was convicted of charges related to the executions of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites suspected of planning an assassination attempt against him, and was sentenced to death by hanging. Saddam was executed on December 30, 2006.[8]