Hussein, Saddam, << hoo SAYN, sah DAHM >> (1937-2006), was president of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. His rule ended shortly after United States and allied forces invaded Iraq in March 2003. This invasion marked the start of the Iraq War (2003-2011). United States troops captured Hussein in December 2003. He was executed by Iraqi authorities on Dec. 30, 2006.
Hussein ruled Iraq as a dictator and was known for his ruthless actions. For example, in the late 1980’s, he authorized the relocation or extermination of hundreds of thousands of Kurdish people in northern Iraq. This campaign included the frequent use of chemical weapons against the Kurds.
In August 1990, Hussein ordered Iraqi forces to invade and occupy Kuwait. The United Nations (UN) Security Council authorized military action to expel the Iraqi troops from Kuwait. In January 1991, a coalition of nations, organized mainly by the United States and the UN, began an air war against Iraq. After more than five weeks of bombing, coalition ground troops entered Iraq and Kuwait and quickly defeated the Iraqi forces. For more details, see Persian Gulf War of 1991.
During the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Iraq continued to have tense relations with many countries, particularly the United States. In March 2003, forces led by the United States began a military campaign against Iraq. The following month, the U.S.-led forces seized control of Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, causing the fall of Hussein’s government. United States officials said the main reason for the war was to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction—that is, chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. However, in the months following the U.S.-led invasion, search teams found no such weapons in Iraq. For more details, see Iraq War.
In July 2003, Hussein’s sons Uday and Qusay, who had held high-ranking positions in their father’s regime, were killed in a firefight with U.S. troops. On Dec. 13, 2003, U.S. troops captured Saddam Hussein after they found him hiding near his hometown of Tikrit. In 2005, an Iraqi court formally charged Hussein with ordering the massacre of over 140 Shī`ites in 1982. In 2006, the court charged him with genocide for killing over 100,000 Kurds in the 1980’s. In November, the court convicted Hussein of the Shī`ite massacre charges and sentenced him to death by hanging. He was executed the following month.
Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti was born on April 28, 1937, near Tikrit. He joined the Baath Party in 1957. In 1959, Hussein took part in an attempt to kill Iraqi prime minister Abdul Karim Kassem (also spelled Qasim). After the attempt failed, Hussein fled to Syria and then to Egypt. There, he studied law at Cairo University. In 1963, Baath officers captured and killed Kassem, and Hussein returned to Iraq. But later in 1963, the Baath government was overthrown, and in 1964, Hussein was imprisoned. He escaped from jail in 1966.
The Baath Party regained control of Iraq in 1968, and Hussein quickly became one of the most powerful people in the Baath government. In 1969, he became vice chairman of the party’s Revolutionary Command Council. Using Iraq’s huge petroleum resources, Hussein supervised a successful development program in the 1970’s. In 1979, he became chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council and president of Iraq. Iraq’s development program was halted by a war between Iraq and Iran, which lasted from 1980 to 1988.
