Why was saddam hussein hiding
Saddam Hussein
President of Iraq from to
"Saddam" redirects here. For other uses, see Saddam (disambiguation).
Saddam Hussein[c] (28 April – 30 December ) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from until his overthrow in He previously served as the vice president of Iraq from to and also served as prime minister from to and later from to He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and later its Iraqi regional branch.
Ideologically, he espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, while the policies and political ideas he championed are collectively known as Saddamism.
Saddam was born in the village of Al-Awja, near Tikrit in northern Iraq, to a SunniArab family.[8] He joined the Ba'ath Party in , and later in the Iraqi and Baghdad-based Ba'ath parties.
He played a key role in the 17 July Revolution and was appointed vice president by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. During his tenure as vice president, Saddam nationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company, diversifying the Iraqi economy. He presided over the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War (–) and the Algiers Agreement which settled territorial disputes along the Iran–Iraq border.
Following al-Bakr's resignation in , Saddam formally took power, although he had already been the de facto head of Iraq for several years. Positions of power in the country were mostly filled with Sunni Arabs, a minority that made up about a fifth of the population.[9]
In , upon taking office, Saddam purged the Ba'ath Party.
He ordered the invasion of Iran in in a purported effort to capture Iran's Arab-majority Khuzestan province, and end Iranian attempts to export its revolution to the Arab world and overthrow his regime. The Iran–Iraq War ended in in a stalemate, after a million people were killed and Iran suffered economic losses of $ billion.
At the end of the war, Saddam ordered the Anfal campaign against Kurdish rebels who sided with Iran, recognized as an act of genocide by Human Rights Watch. Later, Saddam accused his former ally Kuwait of slant-drillingIraq's oil reserves and invaded the country, initiating the Gulf War (–), which ended in Iraq's defeat by a United States-led multinational coalition.
The United Nations subsequently placed sanctions against Iraq.
Biography video for kids Iraqi Information Minister — The sentencing was appealed, but was ultimately upheld by a court of appeals. This systemic self-deception within the Iraqi hierarchy led to a surprising lack of awareness when the Americans entered the capital, with some captured Iraqi officers later bewilderingly admitting that they had no idea that the US forces had been so close. Saddam Hussein was a prominent figure in Iraqi politics, known for his brutal regime, wars, and eventual execution.Saddam brutally suppressed the Iraqi uprisings of the Kurds and Shias, which sought to gain independence or overthrow the government. Saddam adopted an anti-American stance and established the Faith Campaign, pursuing an Islamist agenda in Iraq.
In , a US-led coalitioninvaded Iraq, falsely accusing Saddam of developing weapons of mass destruction and of having ties with al-Qaeda.
After the quick coalition victory in the war, the Ba'ath Party was banned and Saddam went into hiding.
Razzies On November 5, , he was found guilty and sentenced to death under charges related to the massacre of Shia Muslims in Bags 'Baghdad Bob' ". In addition to oil revenues, Saddam's wealth was believed to be supported by assets hidden in various offshore accounts and investments. His last public appearance as Information Minister was on 8 April , when he said that the Americans "are going to surrender or be burned in their tanks.After his capture on 13 December , his trial took place under the Iraqi Interim Government. On 5 November , Saddam was convicted by the Iraqi High Tribunal of crimes against humanity related to the Dujail massacre of over Shia Muslims and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed on 30 December
A highly polarizing and controversial figure, Saddam dominated Iraqi politics for 35 years and was the subject of a cult of personality.
Many Arabs regard Saddam as a resolute leader who challenged Westernimperialism, opposed the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and resisted foreign intervention in the region. Conversely, many Iraqis, particularly Shias and Kurds, perceive him negatively as a dictator responsible for severe authoritarianism, repression, and numerous injustices.
Human Rights Watch estimated that Saddam's regime was responsible for the murder or disappearance of , to , Iraqis.
Saddam hussein last words: If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! In the aftermath of the conflict, seeking a means of revitalizing Iraq's war-ravaged economy and infrastructure, at the end of the s, Saddam turned his attention toward Iraq's wealthy neighbor, Kuwait. Al-Sahhaf said that he had surrendered to United States forces, had been interrogated by them and then released. Sassoon, Joseph.
Saddam's government has been described by several analysts as authoritarian and totalitarian, and by some as fascist, although the applicability of those labels has been contested.
Early life and education
Saddam Hussein Al-Majid Al-Tikriti was born on 28 April , in al-Awja, a small village near Tikrit, to Hussein Abid Al-Majid and Subha Tulfah Al-Mussallat.
They were both from the Al-Bejat clan of the Al-Bu Nasir tribe, which was descended from Sayyid Ahmed Nasiruddin bin Hussein, a descendant of Husayn ibn Ali.[10][11] His father Hussein was from the Al-Majid branch of the Al-Bejat clan, his mother Subha was granddaughter of Mussallat bin Omar Al-Nasiri, a tribal leader of the Al-Bu Nasir tribe and an opponent of the Ottoman rule in Iraq.[12] His Al-Bejat clan descended from Omar Bey bin Shabib Al-Nasiri who was appointed as a Bey by the ruling Ottomans over the region of Tikrit.[10] Majority of the Al-Bu Nasir led a Bedouin life in Tikrit, Saddam's own father Hussein Al-Majid being a shepherd Bedouin.[13][14] His HusaynidBedouin Al-Bu Nasir originally been settled in Yemen, migrated to Syria settling in Aleppo and Harran, later settling in Tikrit in Iraq under Ottoman rule.[15][16][10][14] Saddam's name means "the fighter who stands steadfast".[17] His father died before his birth.
This made Saddam's mother, Subha, so depressed that she unsuccessfully attempted to abort her pregnancy and commit suicide. His mother was saved by a Jewish family.[18][19] Subha "would have nothing to do with him", and Saddam was eventually taken in by an uncle.[20] His mother remarried, and Saddam gained three half-brothers through this marriage.
His stepfather, Ibrahim al-Hassan, treated Saddam harshly after his return, and (according to a psychological profile created by the CIA) beat him regularly, sometimes to wake him up.[21][22] At around the age of 10, Saddam fled the family and returned to live in Baghdad with his uncle Khairallah Talfah, who became a fatherly figure to Saddam.[23] Talfah, the father of Saddam's future wife, was a devout Sunni Muslim and a veteran of the Anglo-Iraqi War between Iraqi nationalists and the United Kingdom, which remained a major colonial power in the region.[24] Talfah was appointed the mayor of Baghdad during Saddam's time in power, until his notorious corruption compelled Saddam to force him out of office.[23]
Later in his life, relatives from his native city became some of his closest advisors and supporters.
Under the guidance of his uncle, he attended a nationalistic high school in Baghdad. After secondary school, Saddam studied at an Iraqi law school for three years, dropping out in at the age of 20 to join the revolutionary pan-Arab Ba'ath Party, of which his uncle was a supporter.
The Life Story of Saddam Hussein From there, he was moved to a U. The swift military campaign led to the collapse of his government, and despite an intensive search, he evaded capture for several months before being found in December He also nationalized Iraq's oil industry, just before the energy crisis of , which resulted in massive revenues for the nation. Tools Tools.During this time, Saddam apparently supported himself as a secondary school teacher.[25] Ba'athist ideology originated in Syria and the Ba'ath Party had a large following in Syria at the time, but in there were fewer than Ba'ath Party members in Iraq, and it is believed that Saddam's primary reason for joining the party as opposed to the more established Iraqi nationalist parties was his familial connection to Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and other leading Ba'athists through his uncle.[23]
Revolutionary sentiment was characteristic of the era in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.
In Iraq, progressives and socialists assailed traditional political elites (colonial-era bureaucrats and landowners, wealthy merchants and tribal chiefs, and monarchists).[26] Moreover, the pan-Arab nationalism of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt profoundly influenced young Ba'athists like Saddam. The rise of Nasser foreshadowed a wave of revolutions throughout the Middle East in the s and s, with the collapse of the monarchies of Iraq, Egypt, Yemen and Libya.
Nasser inspired nationalists throughout the Middle East by fighting the British and the French during the Suez Crisis of , modernizing Egypt, and uniting the Arab world politically.[27] Saddam's father-in-law, Khairallah Talfah, was reported to have served five years in prison for his role in fighting against Great Britain in the Iraqi coup d'état and Anglo-Iraqi War, and often mentored and told tales of his exploits to the young Saddam.[22]
In , a year after Saddam had joined the Ba'ath party, army officers led by General Abd al-Karim Qasim overthrew Faisal II of Iraq in the 14 July Revolution.
Saddam hussein biography video about muhammad His stubborn resilience in the face of adversity showcased his capability to navigate the treacherous political landscape in Iraq, ultimately leading to his rise within the party ranks. Dictator of Iraq Saddam Hussein Biography president of Iraq Saddam Hussein was a prominent figure in Iraqi politics, known for his brutal regime, wars, and eventual execution. Retrieved 15 August Like other dictators, Saddam did not rule by fear alone.Rise to power
Further information: Ba'athist Iraq
The Ba'ath Party was originally represented in Qasim's cabinet; however, Qasim—reluctant to join Nasser's newly formed union between Egypt and Syria—sided with various groups within Iraq (notably the social democrats and the Iraqi Communist Party) that told him such an action would be dangerous.
Instead, Qasim adopted a wataniyah policy of "Iraq First".[28][29] To strengthen his own position within the government, Qasim also had an alliance with the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), which was opposed to the notion of pan-Arabism. His policies angered several pan-Arab organisations, including the Ba'ath Party, which later began plotting to assassinate Qasim at Al-Rashid Street on 7 October and take power.
Saddam was recruited to the assassination conspiracy by its ring-leader, Abdul Karim al-Shaikhly, after one of the would-be assassins left. During the ambush, Saddam (who was only supposed to provide cover) began shooting prematurely, which disorganised the whole operation. Qasim's chauffeur was killed and Qasim was hit in the arm and shoulder.
The assassins thought they had killed Qasim and quickly retreated to their headquarters, but Qasim survived. Saddam himself is not believed to have received any training outside of Iraq, as he was a late addition to the assassination team.[32]
Richard Sale of United Press International (UPI), citing former United States diplomat and intelligence officials, Adel Darwish, and other experts, reported that the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Qasim was a collaboration between the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Egyptian intelligence.[33] Pertinent contemporary records relating to CIA operations in Iraq have remained classified or heavily redacted, thus "allow[ing] for plausible deniability."[34] It is generally accepted that Egypt, in some capacity, was involved in the assassination attempt, and that "[t]he United States was working with Nasser on some level."[35] Sale and Darwish's account has been disputed by historian Bryan R.
Gibson who concludes that available U.S. declassified documents show that "while the United States was aware of several plots against Qasim, it had still adhered to [a] nonintervention policy."[36] On the other hand, historian Kenneth Osgood writes that "the circumstantial evidence is such that the possibility of US–UAR collaboration with Ba'ath Party activists cannot be ruled out," concluding that "[w]hatever the validity of [Sale's] charges, at the very least currently declassified documents reveal that US officials were actively considering various plots against Qasim and that the CIA was building up assets for covert operations in Iraq."[35]
At the time of the attack, the Ba'ath Party had fewer than 1, members; however, the failed assassination attempt led to widespread exposure for Saddam and the Ba'ath within Iraq, where both had previously languished in obscurity, and later became a crucial part of Saddam's public image during his tenure as president of Iraq.[35][38]Kanan Makiya recounts:
The man and the myth merge in this episode.
His biography—and Iraqi television, which stages the story ad nauseam—tells of his familiarity with guns from the age of ten; his fearlessness and loyalty to the party during the operation; his bravery in saving his comrades by commandeering a car at gunpoint; the bullet that was gouged out of his flesh under his direction in hiding; the iron discipline that led him to draw a gun on weaker comrades who would have dropped off a seriously wounded member of the hit team at a hospital; the calculating shrewdness that helped him save himself minutes before the police broke in leaving his wounded comrades behind; and finally the long trek of a wounded man from house to house, city to town, across the desert to refuge in Syria.[39]
Michel Aflaq, the leader of the Ba'athist movement, organized the expulsion of leading Iraqi Ba'athist members, such as Fuad al-Rikabi, on the grounds that the party should not have initiated the attempt on Qasim's life.
At the same time, Aflaq secured seats in the Iraqi Ba'ath leadership for his supporters, one of them being Saddam.[40] The assassins, including Saddam, all eventually escaped to Cairo, Egypt "where they enjoyed Nasser's protection for the remainder of Qasim's tenure in power."[41] Saddam initially escaped to Syria and then to Egypt itself in February , and he continued to live there until , graduating from high school in and unsuccessfully pursuing a law degree[42] at Cairo Law School (–).[43] It is possible that Saddam visited the U.S.
embassy in Cairo during his exile,[44] and some evidence suggests that he was "in frequent contact with US officials and intelligence agents."[35] A former high-ranking U.S. official told historians Marion Farouk–Sluglett and Peter Sluglett that Iraqi Ba'athists, including Saddam, "had made contact with the American authorities in the late s and early s."[45]
Army officers with ties to the Ba'ath Party overthrew and killed Qasim in the Ramadan Revolution coup of February ; long suspected to be supported by the CIA,[46][47] however, pertinent contemporary documents relating to the CIA's operations in Iraq have remained classified by the U.S.
government,[48][49] although the Ba'athists are documented to have maintained supportive relationships with U.S. officials before, during, and after the coup.[50][51] Ba'athist leaders were appointed to the cabinet and Abdul Salam Arif became president.
Arif dismissed and arrested the Ba'athist leaders later that year in the November Iraqi coup d'état. Being exiled in Egypt at the time, Saddam played no role in the coup or the brutal anti-communist purge that followed; although he returned to Iraq after the coup, becoming a key organizer within the Ba'ath Party's civilian wing upon his return.[52] Unlike during the Qasim years, Saddam remained in Iraq following Arif's anti-Ba'athist purge in November , and became involved in planning to assassinate Arif.
In marked contrast to Qasim, Saddam knew that he faced no death penalty from Arif's government and knowingly accepted the risk of being arrested rather than fleeing to Syria again. Saddam was arrested in October and served approximately two years in prison before escaping in [53] In , Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr appointed him Deputy Secretary of the Regional Command.
Saddam, who would prove to be a skilled organizer, revitalized the party.[54] He was elected to the Regional Command, as the story goes, with help from Michel Aflaq—the founder of Ba'athist thought.[55] In September , Saddam initiated an extraordinary challenge to Syrian domination of the Ba'ath Party in response to the Marxist takeover of the Syrian Ba'ath earlier that year, resulting in the Party's formalized split into two separatefactions.[56] Saddam then created a Ba'athist security service, which he alone controlled.[57]
Main article: 17 July Revolution
In July , Saddam participated in a bloodless coup led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr that overthrew Abdul Rahman Arif,[58]:&#;&#; Salam Arif's brother and successor.
While Saddam's role in the coup was not hugely significant (except in the official account), Saddam planned and carried out the subsequent purge of the non-Ba'athist faction led by Prime MinisterAbdul Razzaq an-Naif, whose support had been essential to the coup's success.[59] According to a semi-official biography, Saddam personally led Naif at gunpoint to the plane that escorted him out of Iraq.[60] Arif was given refuge in London and then Istanbul.
Al-Bakr was named president and Saddam was named his deputy, and deputy chairman of the Ba'athist Revolutionary Command Council. According to biographers, Saddam never forgot the tensions within the first Ba'athist government, which formed the basis for his measures to promote Ba'ath party unity as well as his resolve to maintain power and programs to ensure social stability.
Although Saddam was al-Bakr's deputy, he was a strong behind-the-scenes party politician. Al-Bakr was the older and more prestigious of the two, but by Saddam had become the moving force behind the party.
Political program
In the late s and early s, as vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, formally al-Bakr's second-in-command, Saddam built a reputation as a progressive, effective politician.[61] At this time, Saddam moved up the ranks in the new government by aiding attempts to strengthen and unify the Ba'ath party and taking a leading role in addressing the country's major domestic problems and expanding the party's following.
Saddam actively fostered the modernization of the Iraqi economy and created a strong security apparatus to prevent coups within the power structure and insurrections apart from it. Ever concerned with broadening his base of support among the diverse elements of Iraqi society and mobilizing mass support, he closely followed the administration of state welfare and development programs.[citation needed]
Economic reforms
Within just a few years, Iraq was providing unprecedented social services among Middle Eastern countries.[citation needed] Saddam established and controlled the "National Campaign for the Eradication of Illiteracy" and the campaign for "Compulsory Free Education in Iraq", and largely under his auspices, the government established universal free schooling up to the highest education levels; hundreds of thousands learned to read in the years following the initiation of the program.
The government also supported families of soldiers, granted free hospitalization to everyone, and gave subsidies to farmers. Iraq created one of the most modernized public health systems in the Middle East, earning Saddam an award from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).[62][63]
At the center of this strategy was Iraq's oil.
On 1 June , Saddam oversaw the seizure of international oil interests, which, at the time, dominated the country's oil sector. A year later, world oil prices rose dramatically as a result of the energy crisis, and skyrocketing revenues enabled Saddam to expand his agenda. With the help of increasing oil revenues, Saddam diversified the largely oil-based Iraqi economy.
Saddam implemented a national infrastructure campaign that made great progress in building roads, promoting mining, and developing other industries. The campaign helped Iraq's energy industries.
Electricity was brought to nearly every city in Iraq, and many outlying areas. Before the s, most of Iraq's people lived in the countryside and roughly two-thirds were peasants. This number would decrease quickly during the s as global oil prices helped revenues to rise from less than a half billion dollars to tens of billions of dollars and the country invested into industrial expansion.
He nationalised independent banks, eventually leaving the banking system insolvent due to inflation and bad loans.[64]
The oil revenue benefited Saddam politically.[65] According to The Economist, "Much as Adolf Hitler won early praise for galvanizing German industry, ending mass unemployment and building autobahns, Saddam earned admiration abroad for his deeds.
He had a good instinct for what the "Arab street" demanded, following the decline in Egyptian leadership brought about by the trauma of Israel's six-day victory in the war, the death of the pan-Arabist hero, Gamal Abdul Nasser, in , and the "traitorous" drive by his successor, Anwar Sadat, to sue for peace with the Jewish state. Saddam's self-aggrandizing propaganda, with himself posing as the defender of Arabism against Zionist or Persian intruders, was heavy-handed, but consistent as a drumbeat.
It helped, of course, that his mukhabarat (secret police) put dozens of Arab news editors, writers and artists on the payroll."[65]
Ethnicity and religion
After the Ba'athists took power in , Saddam focused on attaining stability in a nation riddled with profound tensions.[66] Long before him, Iraq had been split along social, ethnic, religious, and economic fault lines: Sunni versus Shi'ite, Arab versus Kurd, tribal chief versus urban merchant, nomad versus peasant and Jews versus anti-Semites.[66] The desire for stable rule in a country rife with factionalism led Saddam to pursue both massive repression and the improvement of living standards.[66]
Following the end of the First Iraqi–Kurdish War in November , Saddam signed a peace treaty with Mustafa Barzani, which agreement granted autonomy to the Kurds.[67] However the failure of the agreement and Arabization program in oil-rich regions around Kirkuk and Khanaqin in Northern Iraq, was one of the triggers for the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War.[67] During this time, Feyil Kurds were systamically persecuted.[68]
During the early years of the Ba'ath rule, Jews were oppressed under the government.[69] Saddam was given the charge of publicly hanging 13 men, including many Jews.[69] They were accused by the government of spying for Israel.[69] Later government abolished its repressive policies on Jews.[69] In November , the government issued a decree inviting Jews back to Iraq, who were expelled.[69] The Israeli government panned the decree by calling it political propaganda.[69] Only a few Jewish families returned to Iraq.[69]
Foreign relations
In , Saddam signed a year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union.
According to historian Charles R. H. Tripp, the treaty upset "the US-sponsored security system established as part of the Cold War in the Middle East. It appeared that any enemy of the Baghdad regime was a potential ally of the United States."[70] In response, the US covertly financed Kurdish rebels led by Mustafa Barzani during the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War; the Kurds were defeated in , leading to the forcible relocation of hundreds of thousands of Kurdish civilians.[70]
Saddam focused on fostering loyalty to the Ba'athists in the rural areas.
After nationalizing foreign oil interests, Saddam supervised the modernization of the countryside, mechanizing agriculture on a large scale, and distributing land to peasant farmers.[71] The Ba'athists established farm cooperatives and the government also doubled expenditures for agricultural development in – Saddam's welfare programs were part of a combination of "carrot and stick" tactics to enhance support for Saddam.
The state-owned banks were put under his thumb. Lending was based on cronyism.[64]
Peace treaty with Iran
Main article: Algiers Agreement
A peace treaty, which aimed to address the Shatt al-Arab dispute, was signed in [72] Under the accord, Iraq was granted sovereignty over the eastern bank of the waterway, while Iran retained control over the western bank.[72] The agreement also allowed for joint navigation and other provisions.[72] The Algiers Agreement, also known as the Algiers Accord, was a significant diplomatic agreement signed between Iran and Iraq on 6 March , to settle border disputes and improve bilateral relations.