Hussein's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, said of this time that Hussein served al-Bakr patiently and honestly. In reality, though, he was gradually firming his grip on power, putting key allies in important positions.
In , Hussein seized his chance, staging a palace coup by forcing the ailing al-Bakr to resign "for health reasons. The new president said there had been a plot against him. Names were read out, and the accused were taken out of the hall one by one and shot. Videotapes of the meeting were distributed throughout the country. The message was clear -- Hussein's rule would be absolute and any dissent crushed.
A personality cult grew around Hussein. He had a Koran written in his blood, an attempt to show he was directly descended from the prophet Muhammad. He is attributed to having written a romantic novel that was turned into a lavish musical. He had a film made of his youthful assassination attempt on Qasim. Relations between the two neighbors soured. The next year, Iraq invaded, sparking a costly eight-year war that impoverished the country. Hussein's ties to the West, meanwhile, improved.
The big worry was that Tehran's Islamic revolution would spread beyond Iran and destabilize the region. The United States and Britain supported Iraq in the hope that Baghdad could contain Iran -- casting a blind eye to some of Hussein's worst excesses, like his gassing of Iraqi Kurds and Iranian soldiers. John Moberly met Hussein on several occasions when he was British ambassador to Iraq in the early s.
He doesn't come across in that way, and he's quite good in talks where he's talking to other visiting officials or ministers. But you can't get out of your mind what you know about his ruthlessness and the way that he does not give much care to human life," Moberly said. The disastrous war with Iran -- in which hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians were killed on both sides -- was followed by another ill-fated campaign, one that put an abrupt end to Hussein's time as a Western ally: the invasion of Kuwait.
Iraq was roundly defeated in that, the first Gulf War, when a U. Not that you'd know it from this speech by Hussein to mark the 10th anniversary of the start of hostilities: "Iraq has achieved victory over the enemies of the Arab nation. Iraq will achieve victory in all remaining courses of action, with God's will. That is because Iraq has already achieved victory within its conscience, heart, and mind. The merest whiff of dissent could get someone jailed or executed. Torture was common. Some detainees had their fingernails pulled out.
After he invaded Kuwait in , a U. Throughout the s, Saddam faced both U. With Iraq continuing to face allegations of illegal oil sales and weapons-building, the United States again invaded the country in March , this time with the expressed purpose of ousting Saddam and his regime. Five months later, on December 13, , U. The man once obsessed with hygiene was found to be unkempt, with a bushy beard and matted hair. He did not resist and was uninjured during the arrest.
After standing trial, he was executed on December 30, Despite a prolonged search, weapons of mass destruction were never found in Iraq.
But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! In Atlanta on December 13, , Manon Rheaume becomes the first woman to play in a regular-season professional hockey game. In the Atlanta Knights' loss to Salt Lake City, Rheaume enters at the start of the second period with the score tied at 1 in the International Hockey The Swedish climate activist became the first Person of the Year to be born in the 21st century and the youngest ever to receive the honor.
Thunberg took to activism early, convincing Later that year, UN inspections of suspected weapons sites in Iraq began, but little or no evidence that such programs existed was ultimately found. Despite this, on March 20, , under the pretense that Iraq did in fact have a covert weapons program and that it was planning attacks, a U.
Within weeks, the government and military had been toppled, and on April 9, , Baghdad fell. Saddam, however, managed to elude capture. In the months that followed, an intensive search for Saddam began. While in hiding, Saddam released several audio recordings, in which he denounced Iraq's invaders and called for resistance.
Finally, on December 13, , Saddam was found hiding in a small underground bunker near a farmhouse in ad-Dawr, near Tikrit. From there, he was moved to a U. During the subsequent trial, Saddam would prove to be a belligerent defendant, often boisterously challenging the court's authority and making bizarre statements.
On November 5, , Saddam was found guilty and sentenced to death. The sentencing was appealed, but was ultimately upheld by a court of appeals.
He was buried in Al-Awja, his birthplace, on December 31, We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. Nicolae Ceausescu was the leader of Communist Romania for more than two decades until his execution in Kim Il-sung served as premier and president of North Korea and ran the country for decades, spearheading the creation of an Orwellian regime.
Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union for more than two decades, instituting a reign of death and terror while modernizing Russia and helping to defeat Nazism.
Adolf Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany. His fascist agenda led to World War II and the deaths of at least 11 million people, including some six million Jews. Known for running a corrupt, undemocratic regime, Ferdinand Marcos was the president of the Philippines from to before fleeing to the United States.
Francisco Franco led a successful military rebellion to overthrow Spain's democratic republic in the Spanish Civil War, subsequently establishing an often brutal dictatorship that defined the country for decades.
George H. He was also the father of George W. Bush, the 43rd President. Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq for more than two decades and is seen as a figurehead of the country's military conflicts with Iran and the United States.
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