Born near the city ofTikrit to aSunniArab family, Saddam joined the revolutionaryBa'ath Party in 1957. He played a key role in the17 July Revolution that brought the Ba'athists to power and made himvice president underAhmed Hassan al-Bakr. During his tenure as the vice president, Saddam nationalized theIraq Petroleum Company, diversifying theeconomy, and introduced free healthcare and education. Saddam attempted to ease tensions among Iraq's religious and ethnic groups. He presided over theSecond Iraqi–Kurdish War, crushing the Kurdish insurgency, and signed theAlgiers Agreement withIran in 1975, settling territorial disputes along theIran–Iraq border. Following al-Bakr's resignation in 1979, Saddam formally took power. During his presidency, positions of power in the country were mostly filled with Sunni Arabs, a minority that made up only about afifth of the Iraqi population.
A highly polarizing and controversial figure, Saddam dominated Iraqi politics for 35 years and was the subject of acult of personality. ManyArabs regard Saddam as a resolute leader who challengedWesternimperialism, opposed theIsraeli occupation of Palestine, and resisted foreign intervention in the region. Conversely, many Iraqis, particularly Shias and Kurds, perceive him negatively as atyrant responsible for numerous acts of repression,mass killing and other injustices. Human Rights Watch estimated that Saddam's regime was responsible for themurder or disappearance of 250,000 to 290,000 Iraqis. Saddam's government has been described by several analysts as authoritarian andtotalitarian, and by some asfascist, although the applicability of those labels has been contested.
Early life and education
Saddam in his youth as a shepherd in his village, nearTikrit, 1956
Saddam Hussein Al-Majid Al-Tikriti was born on 28 April 1937, inal-Awja, a small village nearTikrit, to a Sunni Arab family[8] from the Al-Bejat clan of theBedouinAl-Bu Nasir tribe, which was descended fromSayyid Ahmed Nasiruddin bin Hussein, a descendant ofHusayn ibn Ali.[9][10] His father, Hussein Abd al-Majid, was from the Al-Majid branch of the Al-Bejat clan, while his mother Subha Tulfah al-Mussalat was granddaughter of Mussallat bin Omar Al-Nasiri, a tribal leader of the Al-Bu Nasir tribe and an opponent of theOttoman rule in Iraq.[11] His tribe originated inYemen, eventually migrating toSyria where they settled inAleppo andHarran, before later settling in Tikrit in Iraq under Ottoman rule.[12][10][9][13]
Saddam's name means "the fighter who stands steadfast".[14] His father died before his birth.[14] This made Saddam's mother, Subha, so depressed that she unsuccessfully attempted toabort her pregnancy and commitsuicide.[14] Subha "would have nothing to do with him", and Saddam was eventually taken in by an uncle.[15] His stepfather, Ibrahim al-Hassan, treated Saddam harshly after his return, and (according to a psychological profile created by theCIA) beat him regularly, sometimes to wake him up.[16][17] At around the age of 10, Saddam fled the family and returned to live inBaghdad with his uncleKhairallah Talfah, who became a fatherly figure to Saddam.[18] Talfah, the father of Saddam's future wife, was a devout Sunni Muslim and a veteran of the 1941Anglo-Iraqi War betweenIraqi nationalists and theUnited Kingdom, which remained a major colonial power in the region.[19] 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.[18]
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 anIraqi law school for three years, dropping out in 1957 at the age of 20 to join the revolutionarypan-ArabBa'ath Party, of which his uncle was a supporter. During this time, Saddam apparently saw himself as a secondary school teacher.[20] Ba'athist ideology originated inSyria and the Ba'ath Party had a large following in Syria at the time, but in 1955 there were fewer than 300 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 toAhmed Hassan al-Bakr and other leading Ba'athists through his uncle.[18] The pan-Arab nationalism ofGamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt profoundly influenced young Ba'athists like Saddam.[21] The rise of Nasser foreshadowed a wave of revolutions throughout the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s, with the collapse of the monarchies ofIraq,Egypt, andLibya. Nasser inspired nationalists throughout the Middle East by fighting theBritish and theFrench during theSuez Crisis of 1956, modernizing Egypt, and uniting theArab world politically.[22] 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 the1941 Iraqi coup d'état andAnglo-Iraqi War, and often mentored and told tales of his exploits to the young Saddam.[17]
The Ba'ath Party was originally represented in Qasim's cabinet; however, Qasim—reluctant to join Nasser's newly formedunion between Egypt and Syria—sided with various groups within Iraq (notably thesocial democrats and theIraqi Communist Party) that told him such an action would be dangerous. Instead, Qasim adopted awataniyah policy of "Iraq First".[23][24] 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.[25] His policies angered several pan-Arab organizations, including the Ba'ath Party, which later began plotting toassassinate Qasim at Al-Rashid Street on 7 October 1959 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.[26] 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.[26] Saddam himself is not believed to have received any training outside of Iraq, as he was a late addition to the assassination team.[27]
Richard Sale ofUnited 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 StatesCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) andEgyptian intelligence.[28] Pertinent contemporary records relating to CIA operations in Iraq have remained classified or heavily redacted, thus "allow[ing] for plausible deniability."[29] 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."[30]
At the time of the attack, the Ba'ath Party had fewer than 1,000 members;[31] 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 aspresident of Iraq.[30][32]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 1959 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 inSyria.[33]
Exile to the United Arab Republic
Michel Aflaq, the leader of the Ba'athist movement, organized the expulsion of leading Iraqi Ba'athist members, such asFuad 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.[34]
The assassins, including Saddam, all eventually escaped toCairo,United Arab Republic, "where they enjoyed Nasser's protection for the remainder of Qasim's tenure in power."[35] Saddam initially escaped to Syria and then to Egypt itself in February 1960, and he continued to live there until 1963, graduating from high school in 1961 and unsuccessfully pursuing a law degree[36] atCairo Law School (1962–1963).[37] It is possible that Saddam visited the U.S. embassy inCairo during his exile,[38] and some evidence suggests that he was "in frequent contact with US officials and intelligence agents."[30] 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 1950s and early 1960s."[39]
Saddam and other Ba'athists posing on top of a tank after a successful coup in February 1963
Army officers with ties to the Ba'ath Party overthrew and killed Qasim in theRamadan Revolution coup of February 1963; long suspected to be supported by the CIA,[40][41] however, pertinent contemporary documents relating to the CIA's operations in Iraq have remained classified by the U.S. government,[42][43] although the Ba'athists are documented to have maintained supportive relationships with U.S. officials before, during, and after the coup.[44][45] Ba'athist leaders were appointed to the cabinet andAbdul Salam Arif became president. Arif dismissed and arrested the Ba'athist leaders later that year in theNovember 1963 Iraqi coup d'état. Being exiled in Egypt at the time, Saddam played no role in the 1963 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.[46] Unlike during the Qasim years, Saddam remained in Iraq following Arif's anti-Ba'athist purge in November 1963, 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 1964 and served approximately two years in prison before escaping in 1966.[47] In 1966,Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr appointed him Deputy Secretary of the Regional Command. Saddam, who would prove to be a skilled organizer, revitalized the party.[48] He was elected to the Regional Command, as the story goes, with help from Michel Aflaq—the founder of Ba'athist thought.[49] In September 1966, Saddam initiated an extraordinary challenge to Syrian domination of the Ba'ath Party in response to theMarxist takeover of the Syrian Ba'ath earlier that year, resulting in the Party's formalized split into twoseparatefactions.[50] Saddam then created a Ba'athist security service, which he alone controlled.[51]
In July 1968, Saddam participated in abloodless coup led byAhmed Hassan al-Bakr that overthrewAbdul Rahman Arif,[52]: 174 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 byPrime MinisterAbdul Razzaq an-Naif, whose support had been essential to the coup's success.[53] According to a semi-official biography, Saddam personally led Naif at gunpoint to the plane that escorted him out of Iraq.[54] Arif was given refuge in London and thenIstanbul. Al-Bakr was named president and Saddam was named his deputy, and deputy chairman of the Ba'athistRevolutionary 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 1969 Saddam had become the moving force behind the party.
Vice Presidency (1968–1979)
Political program
Saddam and al-Bakr
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, as vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, formally al-Bakr's second-in-command, Saddam built a reputation as a progressive, effective politician.[55] At this time, he 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.
At the center of this strategy was Iraq's oil. On 1 June 1972, Saddam oversaw the seizure of international oil interests, which, at the time, dominated the country's oil sector.[56] A year later, world oil prices rose dramatically as a result of the1973 energy crisis, and skyrocketing revenues enabled Saddam to expand his agenda.[57] Saddam subsequently implemented a national infrastructure campaign that made progress in building roads, promoting mining, and developing other industries.[58] Electricity was brought to nearly every city in Iraq, and many outlying areas.[58] Before the 1970s, most of Iraq's people lived in the countryside and roughly two-thirds were peasants. This number would decrease quickly during the 1970s. He nationalized independent banks, eventually leaving the banking system insolvent due toinflation and bad loans.[59]
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.[60] The Ba'athists established farm cooperatives and the government also doubled expenditures for agricultural development in 1974–1975. 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.[59]
By the late 1970s, Iraq had experienced significant economic growth, with abudget reserve surpassing US$35 billion. The value of 1 Iraqi dinar was worth more than 3 dollars, making it one of the most notable economic expansions in the region. Saddam Hussein's regime aimed to diversify the Iraqi economy beyond oil. The government invested in various industries, including petrochemicals, fertilizer production, and textile manufacturing, to reduce dependence on oil revenues and promote economic self-sufficiency.[61]
The oil revenue benefited Saddam politically.[62] According toThe Economist, "Much asAdolf 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 1967 war, the death of the pan-Arabist hero,Gamal Abdel Nasser, in 1970, 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 orPersian intruders, was heavy-handed, but consistent as a drumbeat. It helped, of course, that hismukhabarat (secret police) put dozens of Arab news editors, writers and artists on the payroll."[62]
Saddam also took steps to promote women's rights within Iraq. By the late 1970s, women in Iraq held significant roles in society, representing 46% of all teachers, 29% of all doctors, 46% of all dentists and 70% of all pharmacists. These advancements signaled progress in women's participation in various professional fields.[63] Women also saw drastic increase in rights in other-aspects of life, with women being given equal-rights in marriage, divorce, inheritance, and custody.[64] Women in Iraq also had the ability to pass their citizenship down to their children even if they married a non-Iraqi. Women's education no longer was a luxury, with women having the same opportunities as men in higher education.[64]
Saddam sought to have Iraq play a leading role in the Middle East.[65] In 1972, Saddam signed a 15-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with theSoviet Union. Arms were sent along with several thousand advisers. According to historianCharles R. H. Tripp, the treaty upset "the US-sponsored security system established as part of theCold War in the Middle East. It appeared that any enemy of the Baghdad regime was a potential ally of the United States."[66] In response, the US covertly financed Kurdish rebels led byMustafa Barzani during theSecond Iraqi–Kurdish War; the Kurds were defeated in 1975, leading to the forcible relocation of hundreds of thousands of Kurdish civilians.[66] A 1978 crackdown onIraqi Communists and a shift of trade toward the West strained Iraqi relations with the Soviet Union; Iraq then took on a more Western orientation until theGulf War in 1991.[67]
After theoil crisis of 1973, France had changed to a more pro-Arab policy and was accordingly rewarded by Saddam with closer ties. Saddam's rare trips abroad included many Western countries. His visit to Spain took place in December 1974, when theCaudillo of Spain,Francisco Franco, invited him toMadrid and he visitedGranada,Córdoba andToledo.[68] In September 1975 he met with Prime MinisterJacques Chirac inParis, France.[69] Saddam's 1975 visit further cemented close ties with French business and ruling political circles.
Iraq's relations with the Arab world have been extremely varied. Relations between Iraq and Egypt violently ruptured in 1977, when the two nations broke relations with each other following Iraq's criticism of Egyptian PresidentAnwar Sadat's peace initiatives withIsrael. In 1978, Baghdad hosted anArab League summit that condemned and ostracized Egypt for accepting theCamp David Accords. Saddam led Arab opposition to the Camp David Accords.
Iran and Iraq had been engaged in a long-standing territorial dispute over the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which serves as the border between the two countries.[70] Iran had backed Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq.[70] A peace treaty, which aimed to address the Shatt al-Arab dispute, was signed in 1975.[70] The 1975 Algiers Agreement, also known as the Algiers Accord, was a significant diplomatic agreement signed between Iran and Iraq on 6 March 1975, to settle border disputes and improve bilateral relations.[70] It was mediated by the then president ofAlgeria,Houari Boumediene.[70] Under the accord, Iraq was granted sovereignty over the eastern bank of the waterway, while Iran retained control over the western bank.[70] Following the agreement, Iraq and Iran restored full diplomatic relations and exchanged ambassadors, representing a significant diplomatic breakthrough.[70] The Shah withdrew support of the Kurds, who were promptly defeated by the Iraqis during theSecond Iraqi-Kurdish War.
Succession
In 1976, Saddam rose to the position of general in the Iraqi armed forces, and rapidly became thestrongman of the government.[71] As the ailing, elderly al-Bakr became unable to execute his duties, Saddam took on an increasingly prominent role as the face of the government both internally and externally.[71] He was thede facto leader of Iraq some years before he formally came to power in 1979.[71]
In 1979, al-Bakr started to make treaties with Syria, also under Ba'athist leadership, that would lead to unification between the two countries.[71] Syrian PresidentHafez al-Assad would become deputy leader in a union, and this would drive Saddam to obscurity.[71] Saddam acted to secure his grip on power by forcing the ailing al-Bakr to resign on 16 July 1979, and formally assumed the presidency.[71]
The first sign of consolidation of power came, when Muhyi Abd al-Hussein Mashhadi, the secretary-general of the Baՙth Party, was replaced by someone closer to Saddam.[72] Many officers during al-Bakr's time were removed.[72] Few survived such asAdnan Khairallah andSa'dun Hammadi.[72]
Saddam convened an assembly of Ba'ath party leaders on 22 July 1979.[73] During the assembly, which he ordered videotaped,[74] Saddam claimed to have found afifth column within the ruling party and directedMuhyi Abdul-Hussein to read out a confession and the names of 68 alleged co-conspirators.[73] These members were labelled "disloyal" and were removed from the room one by one and taken into custody.[73] After the list was read, Saddam congratulated those still seated in the room for their past and future loyalty.[73] The 68 people arrested at the meeting were subsequently tried together and found guilty oftreason; 22 were sentenced to execution.[73] Other high-ranking members of the party formed thefiring squad.[73][75]
A second round of purges took place in June 1982, when half of the sixteen RCC members who had survived the 1979 "countercoup" were removed from power.[72]
Under Saddam's administration, senior government, military, and security roles were predominantly filled by Arab Sunni Muslims, a minority that made up about afifth of the population.[76] While key security posts were often reserved for close relatives, he also appointed members of various religious and ethnic minorities to high-ranking positions and as representatives based on loyalty to his regime.[77][78][79]
Fedayeen of Saddam militants marching through Baghdad, 1999
Following theIranian Revolution of 1979, Iraq faced the prospect of régime change from two Shi'ite factions (Dawa andSCIRI) which aspired to model Iraq on its neighbour Iran as a Shia theocracy. A separate threat to Iraq came from parts of the ethnic Kurdish population ofnorthern Iraq which opposed being part of an Iraqi state and favored independence (an ongoing ideology which had preceded Ba'ath Party rule). To alleviate the threat of revolution, Saddam afforded certain benefits to the potentially hostile population. Membership in the Ba'ath Party remained open to all Iraqi citizens regardless of background, and repressive measures were taken against its opponents.[81]
The major instruments for accomplishing this control were the paramilitary and police organizations. Beginning in 1974,Taha Yassin Ramadan, a close associate of Saddam, commanded thePopular Army, which had responsibility for internal security. As the Ba'ath Party's paramilitary, the People's Army acted as a counterweight against any coup attempts by the regular armed forces. In addition to the People's Army, the Department of General Intelligence was the most notorious arm of the state-security system, feared for its use oftorture and assassination.Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam's youngerhalf-brother, commanded Mukhabarat. Foreign observers believed that from 1982 this department operated both at home and abroad in its mission to seek out and eliminate Saddam's perceived opponents.[81][82]
Saddam was notable for using terror against his own people.The Economist described Saddam as "one of the last of the 20th century's great dictators, but not the least in terms of egotism, or cruelty, or morbid will to power."[62] Saddam's regime brought about the deaths of at least 250,000 Iraqis[83] and committedwar crimes in Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.Human Rights Watch andAmnesty International issued regular reports of widespreadimprisonment and torture. Conversely, Saddam used Iraq's oil wealth to develop an extensivepatronage system for the regime's supporters.[84]
In early 1979, Iran's ShahMohammad Reza Pahlavi'sPahlavi dynasty were overthrown by theIslamic Revolution, thus giving way to an Islamic republic led by AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini.[85] The influence of revolutionary Shi'ite Islam grew apace in the region, particularly in countries with large Shi'ite populations, especially Iraq.[85] Saddam feared that the radical Islamic ideas—hostile to his secular rule—were rapidly spreading inside his country among the majority Shi'ite population.[85] Despite Saddam's fears of massive unrest, Iran's attempts toexport its Islamic Revolution were largely unsuccessful in rallying support from Shi'ites in Iraq and theGulf states.[86] Most Iraqi Shi'ites, who comprised the majority of the Iraqi Armed Forces, chose their own country over their Shi'ite Iranian coreligionists during the war that ensued.[86]
There had also been bitter enmity between Saddam and Khomeini since the 1970s.[85] Khomeini, having been exiled from Iran in 1964, took up residence in Iraq, at the Shi'a holy city ofNajaf.[85] There he involved himself with Iraqi Shi'as and developed a strong religious and political following against the Iranian government, which Saddam tolerated.[85] When Khomeini began to urge the Shi'ites there to overthrow Saddam and under pressure from the Shah, who had agreed to a rapprochement between Iraq and Iran in 1975, Saddam agreed to expel Khomeini in 1978 to France.[85] Here, Khomeini gained media connections and collaborated with a much larger Iranian community, to his advantage.[85] After Khomeini gained power, skirmishes between Iraq and revolutionary Iran occurred for ten months over the sovereignty of the disputedShatt al-Arab waterway, which divides the two countries.[85] During this period, Saddam publicly maintained that it was in Iraq's interest not to engage with Iran, and that it was in the interests of both nations to maintain peaceful relations.[85][87]
The outbreak of thewar in September 1980 was preceded by a long period of tension between the two countries throughout 1979 and 1980, including frequent border skirmishes, calls by Khomeini for the Shia Muslims in Iraq to revolt against the ruling Ba'ath Party, and allegations of Iraqi support for ethnic separatists in Iran.[88] There were frequent clashes along the Iran–Iraq border throughout 1980, with Iraq publicly complaining of at least 544 incidents and Iran citing at least 797 violations of its border and airspace.[89] On 1 April 1980, theIslamic Dawa Party, an Iraqi Islamist group with supportive ties to Iran, attempted to assassinateTariq Aziz, Iraq's then deputy prime minister at theUniversity of Baghdad campus, in retaliation for a 30 March decree declaring "membership of Dawa [to be] a capital offense".[90] On 30 April, Iraq organizedan attack on the Iranian embassy in London.[89] On 10 September 1980, Iraq forcibly reclaimed territories in Zain al-Qaws and Saif Saad that it had been promised under the terms of the 1975 Algiers Agreement but that Iran had never handed over, leading to both Iran and Iraq voiding the treaty, on 14 September and 17 September, respectively.[91][92]
Warfare
Adnan Khairallah (1940–1989), the Defence Minister, being awarded by Saddam.
Iraq invaded Iran on 22 September 1980, firstlaunching airstrikes on numerous targets in Iran, including theMehrabad Airport ofTehran, before occupying the oil-rich Iranian province ofKhuzestan, which also has a sizableArab minority.[85] The invasion was initially successful, as Iraq captured more than 25,900 km2 of Iranian territory by 5 December 1980.[93][85] Khuzestan and Basra were the main focus of the war, and the primary source of their economies. With the support of other Arab states, the United States, and Europe, and heavily financed by the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Saddam became "defender of the Arab world against a revolutionary, fundamentalist Shia Iran." Consequently, many viewed Iraq as "an agent of the civilized world."[86] He fought Iran mainly to prevent the expansion of Shi'a radicalism.[85]
The blatant disregard of international law and violations of international borders were ignored.[86] Instead Iraq received economic and military support from its allies, who overlooked Saddam's use of chemical warfare against the Kurds and the Iranians, in addition to Iraq's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.[86] In the first days of the war, there was heavy ground fighting around strategic ports as Iraq launched an attack on Khuzestan.[85] After making some initial gains, Iraq's troops began to suffer losses fromhuman wave attacks by Iran.[86] Meanwhile, Saddam's efforts to develop nuclear weapons faced a setback when Iraq'snuclear reactor was destroyed on 7 June 1981 by an Israeliair strike.[94] By 1982, Iraq was on the defensive and looking for ways to end the war.[85] Iraq quickly found itself bogged down in one of the longest and most destructivewars of attrition of the 20th century.[85]
During the war, Iraq usedchemical weapons against Iranian forces fighting on the southern front and Kurdish separatists who were attempting to open up a northern front in Iraq with the help of Iran.[85]Tariq Aziz later acknowledgedIraq's use of chemical weapons against Iran, but said that Iran had used them against Iraq first.[95][85] The Iranians, demanding that the international community should force Iraq to pay war reparations to Iran, refused any suggestions for a cease-fire.[85] Despite severalcalls for a ceasefire by theUnited Nations Security Council, hostilities continued until 20 August 1988.[85] The bloody eight-year war ended in a stalemate.Encyclopædia Britannica states: "Estimates of total casualties range from 1,000,000 to twice that number.[85] The number killed on both sides was perhaps 500,000, with Iran suffering the greatest losses."[96] Neither side had achieved what they had originally desired and the borders were left nearly unchanged.[85]
Navy Commanders receiving awards shortly after the end of the war from Saddam, 1988
The southern, oil rich and prosperous areas were almost completely destroyed and were left at pre-1979 border, while Iran managed to make some small gains on its borders in the Northern Kurdish area.[85] Both economies, previously healthy and expanding, were left in ruins.[85] Saddam borrowed tens of billions of dollars from other Arab states and a few billions from elsewhere.[85] This backfired on Iraq and Arab states, as Khomeini was widely perceived as a hero by his supporters for managing to defend Iran and maintain the war with little foreign support against the heavily backed Iraq and only managed to boost Islamic radicalism not only within the Arab states, but within Iraq itself, creating new tensions between the Sunni Ba'ath Party and the majority Shi'a population.[85] Faced with rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure and internal resistance, Saddam desperately re-sought cash, this time for postwar reconstruction.[85]
TheAnfal campaign was a campaign that took place during the war against theKurdish people and many others in Kurdish regions of Iraq led by the government and headed byAli Hassan al-Majid. The campaign takes its name fromQur'anic chapter 8 (al-ʾanfāl), which was used as acode name by the administration for a series of attacks against thepeshmerga rebels and the mostly Kurdish civilian population of rural Northern Iraq, conducted between 1986 and 1989 culminating in 1988.[97] The campaign was in retaliation to Kurd's support for Iran and their rebellion.[97] This campaign also targetedShabaks andYazidis,Assyrians,Turkoman people and many villages belonging to these ethnic groups were also destroyed.[97] Human Rights Watch estimates that between 50,000 and 100,000 people were killed.[98] It considers the campaign as an act of genocide.[97] Some Kurdish sources put the number higher, estimating that 182,000 Kurds were killed.[99][100][83]
On 16 March 1988, the Kurdish town ofHalabja wasattacked with a mix ofmustard gas andnerve agents, killing between 3,200 and 5,000 people, and injuring 7,000 to 10,000 more, mostly civilians.[101][102][103] The attack occurred in conjunction with the Anfal campaign designed to reassert central control of the mostly Kurdish population of areas of northern Iraq and defeat the Kurdishpeshmerga rebel forces. Following the incident, theU.S. State Department took the official position thatIran was partly to blame for the Halabja massacre.[104] A study by theDefense Intelligence Agency held Iran responsible for the attack,[105] an assessment that was subsequently used by theCentral Intelligence Agency for much of the early 1990s.[105] Despite this, few observers today doubt that it was Iraq that executed the Halabja massacre.[106] According toJoost Hiltermann: "Analysis of thousands of captured Iraqi secret police documents and declassified U.S. government documents, as well as interviews with scores of Kurdish survivors, senior Iraqi defectors and retired U.S. intelligence officers, show (1) that Iraq carried out the attack on Halabja, and (2) that the United States, fully aware it was Iraq, accused Iran, Iraq's enemy in a fierce war, of being partly responsible for the attack."[104]
Saddam greetingCarlos Cardoen– a Chilean businessman who provided Iraq with weapons
With the support of otherArab states, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe, and heavily financed by the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Saddam had become "the defender of the Arab world" against a revolutionary, fundamentalist andShia Islamist Iran.[107] The only exception was the Soviet Union.[108][109] It initially refused to supply Iraq on the basis of neutrality in the conflict.[110] Although in his memoirs,Mikhail Gorbachev claimed thatLeonid Brezhnev refused to aid Saddam over infuriation of Saddam's treatment of Iraqi communists.[85] However, by 1982, the Soviet Union began giving military aid to Saddam and in the final years (1986–1988), it actively supported Iraq.[111]
In a U.S. bid to open full diplomatic relations with Iraq, the country was removed from theU.S list of State Sponsors of Terrorism in February 1982.[112] Ostensibly, this was because of improvement in the regime's record, although former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Noel Koch later stated, "No one had any doubts about [the Iraqis'] continued involvement interrorism ... The real reason was to help them succeed in the war against Iran."[113] Middle East special envoyDonald Rumsfeld met Saddam on 19–20 December 1983 at Baghdad.[114][115][116] After which, Saddam sent his deputy Aziz to visit the United States in 1984.[117] He was hosted byRonald Reagan at theWhite House, along with then vice-presidentGeorge H. W. Bush and succeeded in winning U.S support for Iraq.[117]
TheSoviet Union, France, andChina together accounted for over 90% of the value of Iraq's arms imports between 1980 and 1988.[118] While the U.S supplied Iraq with arms, dual-use technology and economic aid, it was also involved in a covert and controversial illegal arms deal, providing sanctioned Iran with weaponry.[85] This political scandal became known as theIran–Contra affair.[119] Saddam reached out to other Arab governments for cash and political support during the war, particularly after Iraq's oil industry severely suffered at the hands of theIranian navy in thePersian Gulf.[85] Saddam attended numerous Arab League summits.[85] Iraq successfully gained some military and financial aid, as well as diplomatic and moral support, from the Soviet Union, China, France, and the U.S, which together feared the prospects of the expansion of revolutionary Iran's influence in the region.[85] Saddam also attended Arab League summits.
Chemical weapons were developed by Iraq from materials and technology supplied primarily byWest German companies as well as using dual-use technology imported following theReagan administration's lifting of export restrictions.[120] TheUnited States government also supplied Iraq with "satellite photos showing Iranian deployments."[121] This satellite imagery may have played a crucial role in blocking theIranian invasion of Iraq in 1982.[122] However, Saddam's government later blamed the Iraqi defeat in theFirst Battle of al-Faw in February 1986 on "misinformation from the U.S."[123]
The end of the war with Iran served to deepen latent tensions between Iraq and its wealthy neighbor Kuwait. Saddam urged the Kuwaitis to waive the Iraqi debt accumulated in the war, some $30 billion, but they refused.[124] Saddam pushed oil-exporting countries to raise oil prices by cutting back production; Kuwait refused, then led the opposition inOPEC to the cuts that Saddam had requested. Kuwait was pumping large amounts of oil, and thus keeping prices low, when Iraq needed to sell high-priced oil from its wells to pay off its huge debt.[124]
Saddam had consistently argued that Kuwait had historically been an integral part of Iraq, and had only come into being as a result of interference from theBritish government; echoing a belief that Iraqi nationalists had supported for the past fifty years. This belief was one of the few articles of faith uniting the political scene in a nation rife with sharp social, ethnic, religious, and ideological divides.[124] The extent of Kuwaiti oil reserves also intensified tensions in the region. The oil reserves of Kuwait (with a population of 2 million next to Iraq's 25) were roughly equal to those of Iraq. Taken together, Iraq and Kuwait sat on top of some 20 percent of the world's known oil reserves;Saudi Arabia held another 25 percent. Saddam still had an experienced and well-equipped army, which he used to influence regional affairs. He later ordered troops to the Iraq–Kuwait border.[124]
As Iraq–Kuwait relations rapidly deteriorated, Saddam was receiving conflicting information about how the US would respond to the prospects of an invasion. For one, Washington had been taking measures to cultivate a constructive relationship with Iraq for roughly a decade. TheReagan administration gave Iraq roughly $4 billion in agricultural credits to bolster it against Iran.[125] Saddam's Iraq became "the third-largest recipient of US assistance."[126] Reacting to Western criticism in April 1990, Saddam threatened to destroy half of Israel with chemical weapons if it moved against Iraq.[127] In May 1990 he criticized US support for Israel warning that "the US cannot maintain such a policy while professing friendship towards the Arabs."[128] In July 1990 he threatened force against Kuwait and the UAE saying "The policies of some Arab rulers are American ... They are inspired by America to undermine Arab interests and security."[129] The US sent warplanes and combat ships to the Persian Gulf in response to these threats.[130]
The US ambassador to Iraq,April Glaspie, met with Saddam in an emergency meeting on 25 July 1990, where the Iraqi leader attacked American policy with regards to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE):[131]
So what can it mean when America says it will now protect its friends? It can only mean prejudice against Iraq. This stance plus maneuvers and statements which have been made has encouraged the UAE and Kuwait to disregard Iraqi rights. If you use pressure, we will deploy pressure and force. We know that you can harm us although we do not threaten you. But we too can harm you. Everyone can cause harm according to their ability and their size. We cannot come all the way to you in the US, but individual Arabs may reach you. We do not place America among the enemies. We place it where we want our friends to be and we try to be friends. But repeated American statements last year made it apparent that America did not regard us as friends.
I know you need funds. We understand that and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait. ... Frankly, we can only see that you have deployed massive troops in the south. Normally that would not be any of our business. But when this happens in the context of what you said on your national day, then when we read the details in the two letters of the Foreign Minister, then when we see the Iraqi point of view that the measures taken by the UAE and Kuwait is, in the final analysis, parallel to military aggression against Iraq, then it would be reasonable for me to be concerned.
Saddam stated that he would attempt last-ditch negotiations with the Kuwaitis but Iraq "would not accept death."[131] U.S officials attempted to maintain a conciliatory line with Iraq, indicating that whileGeorge H. W. Bush andJames Baker did not want force used, they would not take any position on the Iraq–Kuwait boundary dispute and did not want to become involved.[132] Later, Iraq and Kuwait met for a final negotiation session, which failed. Saddam then sent his troops into Kuwait.[133] As tensions between Washington and Saddam began to escalate, the Soviet Union, under Mikhail Gorbachev, strengthened its military relationship with the Iraqi leader, providing him military advisers, arms and aid.[133]
On 2 August 1990, Saddam invaded Kuwait, initially claiming assistance to "Kuwaiti revolutionaries", thus sparking an international crisis.[134] On 4 August an Iraqi-backed "Provisional Government of Free Kuwait" was proclaimed, but a total lack of legitimacy and support for it led to an 8 August announcement of a "merger" of the two countries.[135] On 28 August Kuwait formally became the19th Governorate of Iraq. Just two years after the 1988 Iraq and Iran truce, "Saddam did what his Gulf patrons had earlier paid him to prevent." Having removed the threat of Iranian fundamentalism he "overran Kuwait and confronted his Gulf neighbors in the name of Arab nationalism and Islam."[86] Saddam justified theinvasion of Kuwait in 1990 by claiming thatKuwait had always been an integral part of Iraq and only became an independent nation due to the interference of theBritish Empire.[136]
When later asked why he invaded Kuwait, Saddam first claimed that it was because Kuwait was rightfully Iraq's 19thprovince and then said "When I get something into my head I act. That's just the way I am."[62] As per observers, Saddam could pursue such military aggression with a "military machine paid for in large part by the tens of billions of dollars Kuwait and the Gulf states had poured into Iraq and the weapons and technology provided by the Soviet Union, Germany, and France."[86] It was revealed during his 2003–2004 interrogation that in addition to economic disputes, an insulting exchange between the KuwaitiemirJaber al-Ahmd Al Sabah and Iraq's foreign minister – during which Saddam claimed that the emir stated his intention to turn "every Iraqi woman into a $10 prostitute" by ruining Iraq financially – was a decisive factor in triggering the invasion.[137] Shortly before he invaded Kuwait, Saddam shipped 100 newMercedes cars 200 Series cars to top editors in Egypt and Jordan. Two days before the first attacks, Saddam reportedly offered Egypt'sHosni Mubarak $50 million in cash, "ostensibly for grain."[138]
George H. W. Bush responded cautiously for the first several days.[139] On one hand, Kuwait, prior to this point, had been a virulent enemy of Israel and was the Persian Gulf monarchy that had the most friendly relations with the Soviets.[139] On the other hand, Washington foreign policymakers, along with Middle East experts, military critics, and firms heavily invested in the region, were extremely concerned with stability in this region.[140] The invasion immediately triggered fears that the world'sprice of oil, and therefore control of the world economy, was at stake.[141] The United Kingdom profited heavily from billions of dollars of Kuwaiti investments and bank deposits.[141] Bush was perhaps swayed while meeting with British prime ministerMargaret Thatcher, who happened to be in the U.S. at the time.[141]
Yasser Arafat supported Saddam during the war.[142] During the period of negotiations and threats following the invasion, Saddam focused renewed attention on thePalestinian problem by promising to withdraw his forces from Kuwait if Israel would relinquish the occupied territories in theWest Bank, theGolan Heights, and theGaza Strip.[142] Saddam's proposal further split the Arab world, pitting US- and Western-supported Arab states against the Palestinians.[142] The allies ultimately rejected any linkage between the Kuwait crisis and Palestinian issues.[142]
Cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union made possible the passage of resolutions in the United Nations Security Council giving Iraq a deadline to leave Kuwait and approving the use of force if Saddam did not comply with the timetable.[59] The United States officials feared that the Iraqi retaliation against oil-rich Saudi Arabia, since the 1940s a close ally of Washington, for the Saudis' opposition to the invasion of Kuwait.[59] Accordingly, the United States and a group of allies, including countries as diverse as Egypt, Syria andCzechoslovakia, deployed a massive number of troops along the Saudi border with Kuwait and Iraq in order to encircle the Iraqi army, which was the largest in the Middle East.
Saddam's officers looted Kuwait, stripping even the marble from its palaces to move it to Saddam's own palace.[59] Saddam ignored the Security Council deadline.[143] Backed by the Security Council, a U.S-led coalition launched round-the-clock missile and aerial attacks on Iraq, beginning 16 January 1991.[143] Israel, thoughsubjected to attack by Iraqi missiles, refrained from retaliating in order not to provoke Arab states into leaving the coalition.[143] A ground force consisting largely of U.S. and British armored and infantry divisions ejected Saddam's army from Kuwait in February 1991 and occupied the southern portion of Iraq as far as theEuphrates.[143]
On 6 March 1991, Bush announced "What is at stake is more than one small country, it is a big idea—anew world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind: peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law."[144] In the end, the Iraqi army proved unable to compete on the battlefield with the highly mobile coalition land forces and their overpowering air support.[144] Some 175,000 Iraqis were taken prisoner and casualties were estimated at over 85,000.[144] As part of the cease-fire agreement, Iraq agreed to scrap all poison gas andgerm weapons and allow UN observers to inspect the sites.[144] UN trade sanctions would remain in effect until Iraq complied with all terms.[144] Saddam publicly claimed victory at the end of the war.[144]
Later years: 1990s to 2003
Saddam meeting AyatollahAbu al-Qasim Khoei after the failure of the rebellions, 1991
Iraq's ethnic and religious divisions, together with the brutality of the conflict that this had engendered, laid the groundwork for postwar rebellions.[145] In the aftermath of the fighting, social and ethnic unrest among Shi'ite Muslims, Kurds, and dissident military units threatened the stability of Saddam's government.[145] Uprisings erupted in the north, south and central parts of Iraq, but were ruthlessly repressed.[145] Theuprisings led to the death of 100,000–180,000 people, mostly civilians.[145] The U.S., which had urged Iraqi people to rise up against Saddam, did nothing to assist the rebellions.[86][145] Despite the widespread Shi'ite rebellions, Iran had no interest in provoking another war, whileTurkey opposed any prospect of Kurdish independence, and the Saudi Arabia and other conservative Arab states feared an Iran-style Shi'ite revolution.[86][145] Saddam, having survived the immediate crisis in the wake of defeat, was left firmly in control of Iraq, although the country never recovered either economically or militarily from the Gulf War, until a modest recovery recorded in the early 2000s.[86]
Saddam on the state television about Saudi Arabia's decision to allow the stay of American troops in their land, 1996
Saddam routinely cited his survival as "proof" that Iraq had in fact won the war against the U.S.[86] This message earned Saddam a great deal of popularity in many sectors of the Arab world.[86] John Esposito wrote, "Arabs and Muslims were pulled in two directions. That they rallied not so much to Saddam Hussein as to the bipolar nature of the confrontation (the West versus the Arab Muslim world) and the issues that Saddam proclaimed: Arab unity, self-sufficiency, and social justice."[86] As a result, Saddam appealed to many people for the same reasons that attracted more and more followers to Islamic revivalism and also for the same reasons that fueledanti-Western feelings.[86]
To gain support from religious communities, Saddam initiated theFaith Campaign in 1993, which was under the supervision of vice presidentIzzat Ibrahim al-Douri.[146] Some elements ofSharia law were introduced, and the phrase "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great"), in Saddam's handwriting, was added to the national flag.[146] Saddam also commissioned the production of a "Blood Qur'an", written using 27 litres of his own blood, to thank God for saving him from various dangers and conspiracies.[146] Under the campaign, numerous mosques and Islamic institutes were built across Iraq.[146]
TheUnited Nations-placedsanctions against Iraq for invading Kuwait were not lifted, blocking Iraqi oil exports.[147] Economic hardship followed within the country as GDP plummeted from US$44.36 billion in 1990 to US$9 billion by 1995.[148] Iraq had lost around US$170 billion of oil revenues.[148] Sanctions also restricted basic-medical equipment and supplies from getting into Iraq.[149][148] During the mid-1990s, the UN considered relaxing the sanctions imposed because of the hardships suffered by ordinary Iraqis.[148] Studies dispute the number of people who died in south and central Iraq during the years of the sanctions.[150][151][152][153][154] On 9 December 1996, Saddam's government accepted theOil-for-Food Programme that the UN had first offered in 1992.[148]
Saddam on the occasion of 10th anniversary of the end of Iran-Iraq War, 1998
Relations with the U.S. remained tense following the war.[155] The U.S. launched amissile attack aimed at Iraq's intelligence headquarters in Baghdad on 26 June 1993, citing evidence of repeated violations of the "no fly zones" imposed after the war and for incursions into Kuwait.[155] American officials continued to accuse Saddam of violating the terms of the Gulf War's ceasefire, by developingweapons of mass destruction and other banned weaponry, and violating the UN-imposed sanctions.[155]Bill Clinton maintained sanctions and orderedair strikes in the "Iraqi no-fly zones", in the hope that Saddam would be overthrown by political enemies inside Iraq.[155] Western charges of Iraqi resistance to U.N access to suspected weapons were the pretext for crises between 1997 and 1998, culminating in intensive U.S. and British missile strikes on Iraq, 16–19 December 1998.[155] After two years of intermittent activity, U.S. and British warplanesstruck harder at sites near Baghdad in February 2001.[156] Former CIA case officerRobert Baer reports that he "tried to assassinate" Saddam in 1995,[155] amid "a decade-long effort to encourage a military coup in Iraq."[156]By the end of 1990s, diplomatic isolation of Iraq with Arab states were gradually disappearing, and the economy of Iraq had improved by 2000, with its GDP increasing to $23.73 billion.[157][158] Saddam later decided to useEuros, instead ofU.S. dollars for Iraqi oil.[159] Almost all of Iraq's oil exports under the Oil-for-food program were paid in Euros since 2001.[159] Approximately 26 billion euros (£17.4bn) was paid for 3.3 billion barrels of oil into an escrow account in New York.[159]
Saddam addresses the Iraqi state television, in January 2001.
Saddam was widely known for his pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel stance.[160] He appeared on television threatening to burn and destroy Israel.[160] However, Saddam's official position was that the relations of Iraq with Israel will be determined by the solution accepted by Palestinians.[160] Relations between Iraq and Egypt deteriorated in 1977, as a result of Egyptian PresidentAnwar Sadat's peace initiatives withIsrael.[160] Relations improved after Egypt supported Iraq in the 1980–1988 war.[160]
Saddam supported several Palestinian guerrilla movements.[161] He provided financial support to Palestinians.[161] Iraq hosted numerous Palestinians as refugees and were given full rights as an Iraqi citizen, unlike the situation of Palestinians in other countries.[161] Saddam had support ofYasser Arafat and had close relations with other Palestinian political leaders such as Muhammad Hassan Abd al-Rahman Melhem, and invited many to Iraq.[161] According to reports byThe Observer, Saddam held secret negotiations with the Israel government.[162] In May 2000, Saddam and his representatives had secret meetings with the Israeli government.[163] He offered that Iraq will end its anti–Israel foreign policy, if Israel will resolve Palestinian refugees issue in Lebanon.[163] However, later this was denied by the government.[164]
Following the outbreak of theSecond Intifada in thePalestinian territories, Saddam openly expressed solidarity with the Palestinians, and established theJerusalem Army, a volunteer force in solidarity with the Palestinians.[165][166][167] Saddam also provided financial assistance from Iraq's oil revenue, to the families of the Palestinian victims and militants.[168] Around 20% of Iraq's oil revenue, by the oil-for-food program was for donating to the Palestinians.[168][169] Contrary to the claims of the United States and the Israelis, not all the money was sent to support suicide bombing.[169] On the eve ofChristmas in 2000, Saddam wrote apublic letter, calling for Muslims and Christians of Iraq, to lead jihad against the Zionist movement.[170] In 2001, Saddam declared on the state Iraqi television:[171]
Palestine is Arab and must be liberatedfrom the river to the sea and all theZionists who emigrated to the land of Palestine must leave.
— Saddam Hussein
In 2002, following anIsraeli offensive into Palestinian territory, Saddam stopped supplying oil to Western countries in order to force Israel to abandon its offensive, a move supported byIran andLibya.[172]
Many members of theinternational community, especially the U.S., continued to view Saddam as a bellicose tyrant who was a threat to the stability of the region.[173][174] In his January 2002state of the union address to Congress, PresidentGeorge W. Bush spoke of an "axis of evil" consisting of Iran, North Korea, and Iraq.[173] Moreover, Bush announced that he would possibly take action to topple the Iraqi government, because of the threat of its weapons of mass destruction.[174] Bush stated that "The Iraqi regime has plotted to developanthrax, andnerve gas, andnuclear weapons for over a decade ... Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror."[173]
After the passing ofUN Security Council Resolution 1441, which demanded that Iraq give "immediate, unconditional and active cooperation" with UN and IAEA inspections,[175] Saddam allowed U.N. weapons inspectors led byHans Blix to return to Iraq.[175] During the renewed inspections beginning in November 2002, Blix found no stockpiles of WMD and noted the "proactive" but not always "immediate" Iraqi cooperation as called for by Resolution 1441.[176]
With war still looming on 24 February 2003, Saddam took part inan interview withCBS News reporterDan Rather.[177] Talking for more than three hours, he denied possessing any weapons of mass destruction, or any other weapons prohibited by the UN guidelines.[177] He also expressed a wish to have a live televised debate withGeorge W. Bush, which was declined.[177][137] It was his first interview with an American reporter in over a decade.[177][137] CBS aired the taped interview later that week.[178] Saddam later told an FBI interviewer that he once left open the possibility that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction in order to appear strong against Iran.[178][137]
Invasion and overthrow
TheUnited States-led coalition forces launched invasion of Iraq on 20 March 2003.[179] The Iraqi government and military collapsed within three weeks of the beginning of the invasion.[179] By the beginning of April, the coalition forces occupied much of Iraq.[179] The resistance of the much-weakened Iraqi Armed Forces either crumbled or shifted toguerrilla tactics, and it appeared that Saddam had lost control of Iraq.[179] He was last seen in a video which purported to show him in the Baghdad suburbs surrounded by supporters.[179] When Baghdad fell to US-led forces on 9 April, marked symbolically by thetoppling of his statue,[180] Saddam was nowhere to be found and his government was completely overthrown.[179]
Saddam shortly after being capturedSaddam's fingerprints, obtained by the National Security Archive
In April 2003, Saddam's whereabouts remained in question during the weeks following thefall of Baghdad and the conclusion of the major fighting of the war.[179] Various sightings of Saddam were reported in the weeks following the war, but none were authenticated.[179] At various times he released audio tapes promoting popular resistance to his ousting.[179] On 22 July 2003, his sonsUday andQusay and 14-year-old grandson Mustafa were killedin a three-hour gunfight with the U.S. forces inMosul.[181][182][183] Upon their deaths, he commemorated them as "martyrs" on radio.[179] Saddam was placed at the top of theUS list of most-wanted Iraqis, which included officials of his government and the party members.[179]
On 13 December 2003, inOperation Red Dawn, Saddam was captured by American forces after being found hiding in a hole in the ground near a farmhouse inad-Dawr, near Tikrit.[179] Following his capture, Saddam was transported to a US base near Tikrit, and later taken to the American base near Baghdad Airport.[179][184] Documents obtained and released by the National Security Archive detail FBI interviews and conversations with Saddam while he was in US custody.[184] On 14 December, US administrator in IraqPaul Bremer confirmed that Saddam had indeed been captured at a farmhouse in ad-Dawr near Tikrit.[185] Bremer presented video footage of Saddam in custody.[185] He was shown with a full beard and hair longer than his familiar appearance.[185] He was described by US officials as being in good health.[185] Bremer reported plans to put Saddam on trial, but claimed that the details of such a trial had not yet been determined.[185] Iraqis and Americans who spoke with Saddam after his capture generally reported that he remained self-assured, describing himself as a "firm, but just leader."[186]
British tabloid newspaperThe Sun posted a picture of Saddam wearing white briefs on the front cover of a newspaper. Other photographs inside the paper show Saddam washing his trousers, shuffling, and sleeping. The U.S. government stated that it considered the release of the pictures a violation of theGeneva Convention and that it would investigate the photographs.[187][188] During this periodSaddam was interrogated byFBI agentGeorge Piro.[189]
The guards at the Baghdad detention facility called their prisoner "Vic", which stands for "Very Important Criminal" and let him plant a small garden near his cell.[190] The nickname and the garden are among the details about the former Iraqi leader that emerged during a March 2008 tour of the Baghdad prison and cell where Saddam slept, bathed, kept a journal, and wrote poetry in the final days before his execution; he was concerned to ensure his legacy and how the history would be told.[190] The tour was conducted by US Marine Maj. Gen.Doug Stone, overseer of detention operations for the US military in Iraq at the time.[190] During his imprisonment he exercised and was allowed to have his personal garden; he also smoked his cigars and wrote his diary in the courtyard of his cell.[190]
On 30 June 2004, Saddam, held in custody by US forces at the US base "Camp Cropper", along with 11 other senior Ba'athist leaders, was handed over to the interim Iraqi government to stand trial forcrimes against humanity and other offences.
A few weeks later, he was charged by theIraqi Special Tribunal withcrimes committed against residents of Dujail in 1982, following a failed assassination attempt against him. Specific charges included the murder of 148 people, torture of women and children and the illegal arrest of 399 others.[191][192]Numerous challenges came during his trial. Saddam and his lawyers contested the court's authority and maintained that he was still thePresident of Iraq.[193] There were assassinations and attempted assassinations of several of Saddam's lawyers.[193] The replacement of the chief presiding judge midway through the trial had impact on the trial.[193]
On 5 November 2006, Saddam was found guilty of crimes against humanity — the killing of 148 Shia residents in the town of Dujail in 1982, and wassentenced to death by hanging.[194] His half-brother,Barzan Ibrahim, andAwad Hamed al-Bandar, head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court in 1982, were convicted of similar charges and were themselves sentenced to death. The verdict and sentencing were both appealed, but subsequently affirmed by Iraq's Supreme Court of Appeals.[194]
Saddam wasexecuted byhanging on the first day ofEid ul-Adha, 30 December 2006,[195] despite his wish to be executed byfiring squad (which he argued was the lawful military capital punishment, citing his military position as the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi military).[196] The execution was carried out atCamp Justice, an Iraqi army base inKadhimiya, a neighborhood of northeast Baghdad.
Saudi Arabia condemned the Iraqi authorities for carrying out the execution on a holy day.[197] A presenter from the Al-Ikhbariya television station officially stated: "There is a feeling of surprise and disapproval that the verdict has been applied during the holy months and the first days of Eid al-Adha. Leaders of Islamic countries should show respect for this blessed occasion ... not demean it."[197]
Video of the execution was recorded on a mobile phone and his captors could be heard insulting Saddam.[198] The video was leaked to electronic media and posted on the Internet within hours, becoming the subject of global controversy.[198] It was later claimed by the head guard at the tomb where his remains lay that Saddam's body had been stabbed six times after the execution.[199] Saddam's demeanor while being led to the gallows has been discussed by two witnesses, Iraqi Judge Munir Haddad and Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie.[200] The accounts of the two witnesses are contradictory as Haddad describes Saddam as being strong in his final moments whereas al-Rubaie says Saddam was clearly afraid, but the common view is not of the latter.[200] Not long before the execution, Saddam's lawyers released his last letter.[201]
Saddam spoke his last words during the execution, "May God's blessings be upon Muhammad and his household. And may God hasten their appearance and curse their enemies."[202] Then one of the crowd repeatedly said the name of the Iraqi Shiite clericMuqtada al-Sadr.[202] Saddam laughed and later said, "Do you consider this manhood?"[202] The crowd shouted, "go to Hell." Saddam replied, "To the hell that is Iraq!?"[202] Again, one of the crowd asked those who shouted to keep quiet for God.[202] Saddam started recitation of final Muslim prayers, "I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." One of the crowd shouted, "The tyrant [dictator] has collapsed!" Saddam said, "May God's blessings be upon Muhammad and his household (family)".[202] He recited the shahada one and a half times, as while he was about to say 'Muhammad' on the secondshahada, the trapdoor opened, cutting him off mid-sentence. The rope broke his neck, killing him instantly.[202] A second unofficial video, apparently showing Saddam's body on a trolley, emerged several days later. It sparked speculation that the execution was carried out incorrectly as Saddam had a gaping hole in his neck.[203]
Saddam was buried at his birthplace of Al-Awja in Tikrit, Iraq, on 31 December 2006. He was buried 3 km (2 mi) from his sons Uday and Qusay Hussein.[204] His tomb was reported to have been destroyed in March 2015.[205] Before it was destroyed, a Sunni tribal group reportedly removed his body to a secret location, fearful of what might happen.[206]
Saddam married his first wife and cousinSajida Talfah in 1963.[207] They became engaged in Egypt during his exile, and married in Iraq after Saddam's 1963 return.[208] The couple had five children.[207]
Uday Hussein (1964–2003), who was Saddam's oldest son, who ran theIraqi Football Association,Fedayeen Saddam, and several media corporations in Iraq includingIraqi TV and the newspaperBabel. Uday, while originally Saddam's favorite son and likely successor, eventually fell out of favor with his father due to his erratic behavior. He was briefly married toIzzat Ibrahim ad-Douri's daughter, but later divorced her. The couple had no children.
Qusay Hussein (1966–2003), who was Saddam's second son. Qusay was believed to have been Saddam's later intended successor, as he was less erratic than his older brother and kept a low profile. He was second in command of the military (behind his father) and ran the eliteIraqi Republican Guard and theSSO. He was married once and had three children.
Raghad Hussein (1968), who is Saddam's oldest daughter. After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Raghad fled toAmman, Jordan where she received sanctuary from the royal family. She is currently wanted by the Iraqi government for allegedly financing and supporting the insurgency of the now banned Iraqi Ba'ath Party.[209][210] The Jordanian royal family refused to hand her over. She was married toHussein Kamel al-Majid and has had five children from this marriage.
Rana Hussein (1969), who is Saddam's second daughter. She, like her sister, fled to Jordan and has stood up for her father's rights. She was married toSaddam Kamel and has had four children from this marriage.
Hala Hussein (1972), who is Saddam's third and youngest daughter. Very little information is known about her. Her father arranged for her to marry General Kamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan al-Tikriti in 1998. She fled with her children and sisters toJordan. In June 2021, an Iraqi court ordered the release of her husband after 18 years in prison.[211]
Saddam met his second wife,Samira Shahbandar, in 1979 and married her in 1986.[207] She was originally the wife of anIraqi Airways executive, but later became the mistress of Saddam. Eventually, Saddam forced Samira's husband to divorce her so he could marry her.[207] After the war, Samira fled toBeirut, Lebanon.
Saddam Hussein's sonsQusay andUday were killed in a gun battle inMosul on 22 July 2003.
Saddam had allegedly married a third wife, Nidal al-Hamdani, the general manager of the Solar Energy Research Center in the Council of Scientific Research.[217]
Wafa Mullah Huwaysh is rumored to have married Saddam as his fourth wife in 2002. There is no firm evidence for this marriage. Wafa is the daughter ofAbd al-Tawab Mullah Huwaysh, a former minister of military industry in Iraq and Saddam's last deputy Prime Minister.
In August 1995, Raghad and her husband,Hussein Kamel al-Majid, and Rana and her husband,Saddam Kamel al-Majid, defected toJordan, taking their children with them. They returned to Iraq when they received assurances that Saddam would pardon them. Within three days of their return in February 1996, both of the Kamel brothers were attacked and killed in a gunfight with other clan members who considered them traitors.
In August 2003, Saddam's daughters Raghad and Rana received sanctuary in Jordan.[218] That month, they spoke withCNN and the Arab satellite stationAl-Arabiya inAmman.[218] When asked about her father, Raghad told CNN, "He was a very good father, loving, has a big heart." Asked if she wanted to give a message to her father, she said: "I love you and I miss you."[218] Her sister Rana also remarked, "He had so many feelings and he was very tender with all of us."[218]
Saddam developed a reputation for liking expensive goods, such as his diamond-coatedRolex wristwatch, and sent copies of them to his friends around the world.
On 28 April 2001, Saddam celebrated his birthday, in form of a mega event.[219]
Honors and awards
In 1991, theIraqi government awarded Saddam theOrder of the Two Rivers, the country's highest honor, as a recognition of his "historic role" and "noble services to Iraq".[220][221] This announcement was made following a Cabinet meeting, and Information MinisterHamid Youssef Hummadi stated that the decision was unanimous.[220][221] The award was bestowed on Saddam, during his 54th birthday, in appreciation of his exceptional contributions and significant impact on Iraq.[220]
He was honored by titles such as "Field Marshal" and "Comrade". Saddam Hussein is one of the recipients of theKey to the City.[222][223] In 1980, Saddam Hussein was awarded a key to the city ofDetroit after he donated almost half a million dollars to a church in the city.[224] The government led by Saddam successfully turned Iraq into a leading hub for healthcare and education.[225] This improved quality of life in Iraq.[226] For improvingquality of life of Iraqis, Saddam was honored by an award from UNESCO.[227]
Propaganda art to glorify Saddam afterIran–Iraq War, 1988
The political ideas and politics pursued by Saddam became known asSaddamism.[232] This doctrine was officially endorsed by his government and promoted by the Iraqi daily newspaperBabil owned by his sonUday Hussein.[232]
During his leadership, Saddam promoted the idea of dual nationalism which combinesIraqi nationalism andArab nationalism, a much broader form ofethnic nationalism which supports Iraqi nationalism and links it to matters that impactArabs as a whole.[233] Saddam believed that the recognition of the ancientMesopotamian origins and heritage of Iraqi Arabs was complementary to supporting Arab nationalism.[233] In the course of his reign, thegovernment officially included the historic Muslim leaderSaladin as a patriotic symbol inIraq, while Saddam called himself son of theBabylonian KingNebuchadnezzar and had stamped the bricks of ancientBabylon with his name and titles next to him.[234][235] During theGulf War, Saddam claimed the historic roles of Nebuchadnezzar, Saladin andGamal Abdel Nasser.[86]
Saddam's Bedouin tribal nature often carried a sense of nobility, reflected in certain aspects of his character and behavior.[236] A notable example occurred upon thedeath of Ayatollah Khomeini, his long-time adversary.[236] Addressing his cabinet after receiving the news, Saddam said:[236]
The news came today that Ayatollah Khomeini died. And I have now instructed all the Arab media outlets not to show any gloating and to just say, Khomeini, may God have mercy on his soul.Because when he was alive, he was our enemy and we can do whatever we want. We can insult him, we can write all attack pieces on him, but when he is dead, it's our manners and our culture and our traditions that if someone is dead, that's it. You don't talk ill of the dead. So, he now went to a higher authority and he will have to answer for everything he did, but for us, we don't gloat.
He also conducted twoshow elections, in 1995 and 2002. In the1995 referendum, conducted on 15 October, he reportedly received 99.96% of the votes in a 99.47% turnout, getting 3,052 negative votes among an electorate of 8.4 million.[237][238] In the15 October 2002 referendum he officially achieved 100% of approval votes and 100% turnout, as the electoral commission reported the next day that every one of the 11,445,638 eligible voters cast a "Yes" vote for the president.[239]
Throughout theArab world, many Arabs praise Saddam as a resolute leader who stood up toWesternimperialism,Israeli occupation of Palestine, and foreign intervention in the region, while many Iraqis, especially Shias and Kurds, view him negatively as a dictator responsible for brutal authoritarianism, repression and injustices.[240]
Supporters noted that under Saddam, the government invested heavily in infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges, and public buildings.[241][242] The government invested in building schools and hospitals, and literacy rates in Iraq increased significantly during his rule.[243][244][245] Women were encouraged to participate in education and the workforce, and many held high-ranking positions in government and public institutions.[246][247][248] Saddam's regime was secular in character, which meant that religion did not play a dominant role in the government's policies.[248] Saddam's regime later placed greater emphasis on Islam in all sectors of Iraqi life from 1993 through theFaith Campaign.[248] In 1977, Saddam stated "our Party does not take a neutral stance between faith and atheism; it is always on the side of faith."[249]
By contrast, critics have condemned Saddam as a repressive totalitarian leader.[84][250][251] His regime was notorious for its repressive tactics, includingwidespread surveillance,torture, andextrajudicial killings.[252][253]Human rights organizations documented numerous cases of human rights abuses committed by his government.[254] Saddam's regime suppressed political dissent and opposition through a combination of violence, intimidation, and censorship.[253] Freedom of speech and freedom of the press were severely curtailed, and political opponents were often executed or imprisoned.[255] He initiated three military conflicts, including theIran–Iraq War, theIraqi invasion of Kuwait, and theGulf War.[256] These actions resulted in significant loss of life and destabilized the region.[257] While there were economic development initiatives, Saddam's regime was also marked by mismanagement and widespread corruption, particularly during the final years of his regime.[258] Theeconomic sanctions imposed on Iraq during his rule further exacerbated hardships for the country's population.[259]Saddamism has been described by critics as a mix of "SunniArab nationalism, confusedStalinism, andfascist zeal for the fatherland and its leader".[260]
Cultural depictions of Saddam can be found in various movies, including three documentary movies made on Saddam. Saddam's Tribe, released in 2007, explores the complex relationship between Saddam Hussein and theAl-Bu Nasir, a powerful tribal group in Iraq to which Saddam belongs. In 2008, a TV series based on his life —House of Saddam was released. Irish actorBarry Keoghan will appear in a new movie about Saddam which was announced in 2024.[265]
^Under his government, this date was his official date of birth. His real date of birth was never recorded, but it is believed to be between 1935 and 1939.[1]
^Saddam (Arabic:صَدَّام), pronounced[sˤɑdˈdæːm] inModern Standard Arabic, is his personal name, and means "the stubborn one" or "he who confronts".Hussein (sometimes also transliterated asHussayn orHussain) is not a surname in the Western sense but apatronymic ornasab, his father's given personal name;[5]Abd al-Majid his grandfather's;al-Tikriti is alaqab meaning he was born and raised in, or near,Tikrit. He was commonly referred to asSaddam Hussein, orSaddam for short. The observation that referring to the deposed Iraqi president as onlySaddam is derogatory or inappropriate may be based on the assumption that Hussein is a family name, and "Hussein" was treated this way in English.[5] ThusThe New York Times refers to him as "Mr. Hussein",[6] whileEncyclopædia Britannica uses justSaddam.[7] A full discussion can be found in the CBC reference preceding this note.
^Shewchuk, Blair (February 2003)."Saddam or Mr. Hussein?".CBC News.This brings us to the first, and primary, reason many newsrooms use 'Saddam' – it's how he's known throughout Iraq and the rest of the Middle East.
^Osgood, Kenneth (2009). "Eisenhower and regime change in Iraq: the United States and the Iraqi Revolution of 1958".America and Iraq: Policy-making, Intervention and Regional Politics.Routledge. p. 22.ISBN978-1-134-03672-1.
^Osgood, Kenneth (2009). "Eisenhower and regime change in Iraq: the United States and the Iraqi Revolution of 1958".America and Iraq: Policy-making, Intervention and Regional Politics.Routledge. p. 16.ISBN9781134036721.The documentary record is filled with holes. A remarkable volume of material remains classified, and those records that are available are obscured by redactions – large blacked-out sections that allow for plausible deniability. While it is difficult to know exactly what actions were taken to destabilize or overthrow Qasim's regime, we can discern fairly clearly what was on the planning table. We also can see clues as to what was authorized.
^abcOsgood, Kenneth (2009). "Eisenhower and regime change in Iraq: the United States and the Iraqi Revolution of 1958".America and Iraq: Policy-making, Intervention and Regional Politics.Routledge. pp. 21–23.ISBN9781134036721.
^Farouk–Sluglett, Marion; Sluglett, Peter (2001).Iraq Since 1958: From Revolution to Dictatorship.I.B. Tauris. p. 327.ISBN9780857713735.
^For sources that agree or sympathize with assertions of U.S. involvement, see:
Wolfe-Hunnicutt, Brandon; Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI) (20 July 2018)."Essential Readings: The United States and Iraq before Saddam Hussein's Rule".Jadaliyya.CIA involvement in the 1963 coup that first brought the Ba'th to power in Iraq has been an open secret for decades. American government and media have never been asked to fully account for the CIA's role in the coup. On the contrary, the US government has put forward and official narrative riddled with holes–redactions that cannot be declassified for "national security" reasons.
Citino, Nathan J. (2017). "The People's Court".Envisioning the Arab Future: Modernization in US-Arab Relations, 1945–1967.Cambridge University Press. pp. 182–183.ISBN978-1-108-10755-6.Washington backed the movement by military officers linked to the pan-Arab Ba'th Party that overthrew Qasim in a coup on February 8, 1963.
Ismael, Tareq Y.; Ismael, Jacqueline S.; Perry, Glenn E. (2016).Government and Politics of the Contemporary Middle East: Continuity and Change (2nd ed.).Routledge. p. 240.ISBN978-1-317-66282-2.Ba'thist forces and army officers overthrew Qasim on February 8, 1963, in collaboration with the CIA.
Little, Douglas (14 October 2004)."Mission Impossible: The CIA and the Cult of Covert Action in the Middle East".Diplomatic History.28 (5):663–701.doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.2004.00446.x.ISSN1467-7709.Such self-serving denials notwithstanding, the CIA actually appears to have had a great deal to do with the bloody Ba'athist coup that toppled Qassim in February 1963. Deeply troubled by Qassim's steady drift to the left, by his threats to invade Kuwait, and by his attempt to cancel Western oil concessions, U.S. intelligence made contact with anticommunist Ba'ath activists both inside and outside the Iraqi army during the early 1960s.
Osgood, Kenneth (2009). "Eisenhower and regime change in Iraq: the United States and the Iraqi Revolution of 1958".America and Iraq: Policy-making, Intervention and Regional Politics.Routledge. pp. 26–27.ISBN9781134036721.Working with Nasser, the Ba'ath Party, and other opposition elements, including some in the Iraqi army, the CIA by 1963 was well positioned to help assemble the coalition that overthrew Qasim in February of that year. It is not clear whether Qasim's assassination, as Said Aburish has written, was 'one of the most elaborate CIA operations in the history of the Middle East.' That judgment remains to be proven. But the trail linking the CIA is suggestive.
Wolfe-Hunnicutt, Brandon (2021).The Paranoid Style in American Diplomacy: Oil and Arab Nationalism in Iraq. Stanford University Press. p. 119.ISBN978-1-5036-1382-9.Weldon Matthews, Malik Mufti, Douglas Little, William Zeman, and Eric Jacobsen have all drawn on declassified American records to largely substantiate the plausibility of Batatu's account. Peter Hahn and Bryan Gibson (in separate works) argue that the available evidence does support the claim of CIA collusion with the Ba'th. However, each makes this argument in the course of a much broader study, and neither examines the question in any detail.
Mitchel, Timothy (2002).Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity.University of California Press. p. 149.ISBN9780520928251.Qasim was killed three years later in a coup welcomed and possibly aided by the CIA, which brought to power the Ba'ath, the party of Saddam Hussein.
Weiner, Tim (2008).Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.Doubleday. p. 163.ISBN9780307455628.The agency finally backed a successful coup in Iraq in the name of American influence.
^For sources that dispute assertions of U.S. involvement, see:
Gibson, Bryan R. (2015).Sold Out? US Foreign Policy, Iraq, the Kurds, and the Cold War.Palgrave Macmillan. p. 58.ISBN978-1-137-48711-7.Barring the release of new information, the balance of evidence suggests that while the United States was actively plotting the overthrow of the Qasim regime, it did not appear to be directly involved in the February 1963 coup.
Hahn, Peter (2011).Missions Accomplished?: The United States and Iraq Since World War I.Oxford University Press. p. 48.ISBN9780195333381.Declassified U.S. government documents offer no evidence to support these suggestions.
Barrett, Roby C. (2007).The Greater Middle East and the Cold War: US Foreign Policy Under Eisenhower and Kennedy.I.B. Tauris. p. 451.ISBN9780857713087.Washington wanted to see Qasim and his Communist supporters removed, but that is a far cry from Batatu's inference that the U.S. had somehow engineered the coup. The U.S. lacked the operational capability to organize and carry out the coup, but certainly after it had occurred the U.S. government preferred the Nasserists and Ba'athists in power, and provided encouragement and probably some peripheral assistance.
West, Nigel (2017).Encyclopedia of Political Assassinations.Rowman & Littlefield. p. 205.ISBN9781538102398.Although Qasim was regarded as an adversary by the West, having nationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company, which had joint Anglo-American ownership, no plans had been made to depose him, principally because of the absence of a plausible successor. Nevertheless, the CIA pursued other schemes to prevent Iraq from coming under Soviet influence, and one such target was an unidentified colonel, thought to have been Qasim's cousin, the notorious Fadhil Abbas al-Mahdawi who was appointed military prosecutor to try members of the previous Hashemite monarchy.
^Wolfe-Hunnicutt, Brandon (2021).The Paranoid Style in American Diplomacy: Oil and Arab Nationalism in Iraq. Stanford University Press. p. 117.ISBN978-1-5036-1382-9.What really happened in Iraq in February 1963 remains shrouded behind a veil of official secrecy. Many of the most relevant documents remain classified. Others were destroyed. And still others were never created in the first place.
^Wolfe-Hunnicutt, Brandon (2021).The Paranoid Style in American Diplomacy: Oil and Arab Nationalism in Iraq. Stanford University Press. p. 206.ISBN978-1-5036-1382-9.
^Bashkin, Orit (2009).The other Iraq: pluralism and culture in Hashemite Iraq. Stanford, California, USA: Stanford University Press.ISBN978-0-8047-7415-4.
^Edward Mortimer. "The Thief of Baghdad."New York Review of Books. 27 September 1990, citing Fuad Matar.Saddam Hussein: A Biography. Highlight. 1990.Archived 23 July 2008 at theWayback Machine
^ab"War in Iraq: Not a Humanitarian Intervention".Human Rights Watch. 25 January 2004. Retrieved31 May 2017.Having devoted extensive time and effort to documenting [Saddam's] atrocities, we estimate that in the last twenty-five years of Ba'ath Party rule the Iraqi government murdered or 'disappeared' some quarter of a million Iraqis, if not more.
^abcSassoon, Joseph (February 2017)."Aaron M. Faust,The Ba'thification of Iraq: Saddam Hussein's Totalitarianism [Book Review]".International Journal of Middle East Studies.49 (1).Cambridge University Press:205–206.doi:10.1017/S0020743816001392.S2CID164804585.First, Faust totally ignores the economy in his analysis. This oversight is remarkable given his attempt to trace how the regime became totalitarian, which, by definition, encompasses all facets of life. ... Second, the comparison with Stalin or Hitler is weak when one takes into consideration how many Iraqis were allowed to leave the country. Although citizens needed to undergo a convoluted and bureaucratic procedure to obtain the necessary papers to leave the country, the fact remains that more than one million Iraqis migrated from Iraq from the end of the Iran–Iraq War in 1988 until the US-led invasion in 2003. Third, religion under Stalin did not function in the same manner as it did in Iraq, and while Faust details how the Shia were not allowed to engage in some of their ceremonies, the average Iraqi was allowed to pray at home and in a mosque. ... it is correct that the security services kept a watch on religious establishments and mosques, but the Iraqi approach is somewhat different from that pursued by Stalin's totalitarianism.
^abcdefghijklmnopEsposito, John, "Political Islam Revolution, Radicalism, or Reform",Political Islam and Gulf Security, Lynne Rienner Publishers,ISBN978-1-55587-262-5, pp. 56–58
^Emery, Chris (2013). "Reappraising the Carter Administration's response to the Iran-Iraq war".The Iran-Iraq War: New International Perspectives.Routledge.ISBN978-0-415-68524-5.
^abMurray, Williamson; Woods, Kevin M. (2014). "A context of 'bitterness and anger'".The Iran–Iraq War, A Military and Strategic History.Cambridge University Press. pp. 58–59 (e-book, page numbers approximate).ISBN978-1107062290.
^Murray, Williamson; Woods, Kevin M. (2014). "A context of 'bitterness and anger'".The Iran–Iraq War, A Military and Strategic History.Cambridge University Press. pp. 57–58 (e-book, page numbers approximate).ISBN978-1107062290.
^Murray, Williamson; Woods, Kevin M. (2014). "A context of 'bitterness and anger'".The Iran–Iraq War, A Military and Strategic History.Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–63 (e-book, page numbers approximate).ISBN978-1107062290.On 7 September 1980, Iraq accused Iran of shelling Iraqi villages in the territories of Zain al-Qaws and Saif Saad on 4 September 1980. Iraq demanded that the Iranian forces in those territories evacuate and return the villages to Iraq. Tehran gave no reply. Iraqi forces then moved to 'liberate' the villages, and on 10 September announced that its forces had done so in a short, sharp military engagement. ... On 14 September 1980, Iran announced it would no longer abide by the 1975 Algiers Agreement. Given the scene that was set, it was no surprise that on 17 September, five days before the invasion, Iraq declared the accords null and void. ... On 22 September, Iraqi units crossed the frontier.
^Burns, John F. (26 January 2003)."How Many People Has Hussein Killed?".The New York Times. Retrieved20 February 2022.The largest number of deaths attributable to Mr. Hussein's regime resulted from the war between Iraq and Iran between 1980 and 1988, which was launched by Mr. Hussein. Iraq says its own toll was 500,000, and Iran's reckoning ranges upward of 300,000. Then there are the casualties in the wake of Iraq's 1990 occupation of Kuwait. Iraq's official toll from American bombing in that war is 100,000—surely a gross exaggeration—but nobody contests that thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians were killed in the American campaign to oust Mr. Hussein's forces from Kuwait. In addition, 1,000 Kuwaitis died during the fighting and occupation in their country. Casualties from Iraq's gulag are harder to estimate. Accounts collected by Western human rights groups from Iraqi émigrés and defectors have suggested that the number of those who have 'disappeared' into the hands of the secret police, never to be heard from again, could be 200,000.
^SIPRI DatabaseArchived 25 November 2015 at theWayback Machine Indicates that of $29,079 million of arms exported to Iraq from 1980 to 1988 the Soviet Union accounted for $16,808 million, France $4,591 million, and China $5,004 million (Info must be entered)
^Dickey, Christopher, Thomas, Evan (22 September 2002)."How Saddam Happened".Newsweek. Archived fromthe original on 13 December 2011. Retrieved20 August 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Blight, James G.; et al. (2012).Becoming Enemies: U.S.-Iran Relations and the Iran-Iraq War, 1979-1988.Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 21, 97,113–119.ISBN978-1-4422-0830-8.
^A free-access on-line archive relating to U.S.–Iraq relations in the 1980s is offered byThe National Security Archive of theGeorge Washington University. It can be read on line at[2]. The Mount Holyoke International Relations Program also provides a free-access document briefing on U.S.–Iraq relations (1904–present); this can be accessed on line at[3]Archived 8 February 2019 at theWayback Machine.
^Galbraith, Peter W. (31 August 2006)."The true Iraq appeasers".The Boston Globe. Retrieved16 July 2008.
^Hayes, Stephen F. (5 May 2003)."Saddam's Cash".The Weekly Standard. Archived fromthe original on 29 April 2003.
^abWalter LaFeber,Russia, America, and the Cold War, McGraw-Hill, 2002, p. 358.
^For a statement asserting the overriding importance of oil to U.S. national security and the U.S. economy, see, e.g., the declassified document, "Responding to Iraqi Aggression in the Gulf", The White House, National Security Directive (NSD 54), top secret, 15 January 1991. This document can be read on line inGeorge Washington University's National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 21 at[4].
^abcSee Margaret Thatcher,The Downing Street Years (1979–1990), 817.
^"Judging Dujail".Human Rights Watch. 19 November 2006. Retrieved14 December 2009. 393 members of the pro Iranian Dawa Party (a banned organisation) were arrested as suspects of which 148, including ten children, confessed to taking part in the plot. It is believed more than 40 suspects died during interrogation or while in detention. Those arrested who were found not guilty were either exiled if relatives of the convicted or released and returned to Dujail. Only 96 of the 148 condemned were actually executed, two of the condemned were accidentally released while a third was mistakenly transferred to another prison and survived. The 96 executed included four men mistakenly executed after having been found not guilty and ordered released. The ten children were originally believed to have been among the 96 executed, but they had in fact been imprisoned near the city of Samawah.
^"رغد صدام حسين ترد على حقيقة وجود أخ غير معلن عنه لها" [Raghad Saddam Hussein responds to allegations regarding the existence of an undisclosed brother of hers].CNN Arabic (in Arabic). 20 February 2021. Retrieved3 August 2024.
^Harvey, Michael (2 January 2007)."Saddam's billions"(PDF).Herald Sun. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 11 August 2017. Retrieved6 January 2007.
Balaghi, Shiva (2008).Saddam Hussein: A Biography. Greenwich Press.ISBN978-0-313-33077-3.
Baram, Amatzia (2014).Saddam Husayn and Islam, 1968–2003: Ba'thi Iraq from Secularism to Faith. Woodrow Wilson Center Press/Johns Hopkins University Press.ISBN978-1-4214-1582-6.
Bozo, Frédéric (2016).A History of the Iraq Crisis: France, the United States, and Iraq 1991–2003. Translated by Emanuel, Susan. Woodrow Wilson Center Press/Columbia University Press.ISBN978-0-231-70444-1.
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