Saddam hussein biography summary organizer

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THE POLITICS OF REVENGE

BY THE SAME A U TH O R Pay-off: Wheeling and Dealing in the Arab World The St George Hotel Bar (paperbacked as Beirut Spy) Children of Bethany Cry Palestine The Rise, Corruption and Coming Fall of the House of Saud A Brutal Friendship: The West and the Arab Elite Arafat: From Defender to Dictator

SADDAM HUSSEIN The Politics of Revenge

SAID K. ABURISH

BLOOM SBURY

First published 2000 This paperback edition published 2001 Copyright © 2000 by Said K. Aburish The moral right of the author has been asserted Picture Credits Gamma; page 1 bottom , 2 bottom Popperfoto: page 5 fop, 6 bottom , 8 bottom Sygma: page 3 bottom , 4 top , 5 bottom , 6 fop, 7 fop bottom Topham Picturepoint: page 2 top , 3 fop, 4 bottom Every reasonable effort has been made to ascertain and acknowledge the ownership of copyrighted photographs and illustrations included in this volume. Any errors that have inadvertently occurred will be corrected in subsequent editions provided notification is sent to the publisher. Bloomsbury Publishing Pic, 38 Soho Square, London W1V 5DF A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 7475 4903 6 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Typeset by Hewer Text Ltd, Edinburgh Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives Pic

CONTENTS 1. Cruel Ancestry

1

2. The Shadow of Al Zuhour Palace

9

3. A Gun for Hire

38

4. Playing Stalin to Bakr's Lenin

67

5. Seeking Heaven

96

6. Marching to Halabja

129

7. From Planning to Plotting

160

8. An Aimless W ar

190

9. Illusions of Alliance

223

10. The Friend-Foe Game

252

11. An Abundance of Pride, A Shortage of Intellect

284

12. Principality of Stones

314

13. No Exit?

346

Notes

365

Bibliography and Sources

383

Index

391

50 100 150 200 miles

THE MIDDLE EAST

IRAQ

1

Cruel Ancestry

Much of what the press a

"Saddam" redirects here. For other uses, see Saddam (disambiguation).

Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003. He previously served as the vice president of Iraq from 1968 to 1979 and also served as prime minister from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. 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. He joined the Ba'ath Party in 1957, and later in 1966 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 (1974–1975) and the Algiers Agreement which settled territorial disputes along the Iran–Iraq border. Following al-Bakr's resignation in 1979, 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.

In 1979, upon taking office, Saddam purged the Ba'ath Party. He ordered the invasion of Iran in 1980 in a purported effort to capture Iran's Arab-majority Khuzestan province, and end Iranian attempts to export its 1979 revolution to the Arab world and overthrow his regime. The Iran–Iraq War ended in 1988 in a stalemate, after a million people were killed and Iran suffered economic losses of $561

President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003

"Saddam" redirects here. For other uses, see Saddam (disambiguation).

Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003. He previously served as the vice president of Iraq from 1968 to 1979 and also served as prime minister from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. 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. He joined the Ba'ath Party in 1957, and later in 1966 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 (1974–1975) and the Algiers Agreement which settled territorial disputes along the Iran–Iraq border. Following al-Bakr's resignation in 1979, 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.

In 1979, upon taking office, Saddam purged the Ba'ath Party. He ordered the invasion of Iran in 1980 in a purported effort to capture Iran's Arab-majority Khuzestan province, and end Iranian attempts to export its 1979 revolution to the Arab world and overthrow his regime. The Iran–Iraq War ended in 1988 in a stalemate, after a million people were killed and Iran suffered economic