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{{Infobox President |
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|name = Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti<br/> صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي |
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|image = Saddam Hussein at trial, July 2004.JPEG |
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|caption = Saddam Hussein, 2004. |
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|order = [[Chairman]] of the [[Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council]]<br/>5th [[President of Iraq]] |
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|term_start = [[July 16]], [[1979]] |
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|term_end = [[April 9]], [[2003]] |
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|predecessor = [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] |
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|successor = [[Coalition Provisional Authority]] |
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|nationality = [[Iraq|Iraqi]] |
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|birth_date = [[April 28]], [[1937]] |
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|death_date = [[December 30]], [[2006]] |
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|birth_place = [[Al-Awja]], [[Iraq]] |
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|death_date = [[December 30]], [[2006]], age {{age|1937|4|28|2006|12|30}} |
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|death_place = [[Kazimiyah]], [[Iraq]] |
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|party = [[Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party]] |
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|spouse = [[Sajida Talfah]]<br>[[Samira Shahbandar]]<br>[[Nidal al-Hamdani]] |
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|religion = [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslim]] |
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| order2 = [[Prime Minister of Iraq]] |
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| term_start2 = [[1979]] |
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| term_end2 = [[1991]] <br> [[1994]] - [[2003]] |
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| predecessor2 = [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]] <br> [[Ahmad Husayn Khudayir as-Samarrai]] |
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| successor2 = [[Sa'dun Hammadi]] <br> [[Iyad Allawi]] |
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}} |
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'''Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti''' ([[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]]: {{ar|صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي}} ''{{ArabDIN|Saddām Husayn Aabdu-Al-majīd al-tikrītī}}''<!-- |
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--><ref name="ref1">''Saddam'', pronounced {{IPA|[sˁɑd'dæːm]}} (see [[Arabic phonology]] for details), is his personal name, means ''the stubborn one'' or ''he who confronts'' in Arabic (in Iraq also a term for a car's [[bumper]]). ''Hussein'' (Sometimes also transliterated as '''''Hussayn''''' or '''''Hussain''''') is not a [[Family name|surname]] in the Western sense but a [[patronymic]], his father's given personal name; ''Abd al-Majid'' his grandfather's; ''al-Tikriti'' means he was born and raised in (or near) [[Tikrit]]. He was commonly referred to as ''Saddam Hussein'', or ''Saddam'' for short. The observation that referring to the deposed Iraqi president as only ''Saddam'' may be derogatory or inappropriate is based on the mistaken assumption that Hussein is a family name: thus, the ''[[New York Times]]'' incorrectly refers to him as "Mr. Hussein"[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/02/international/middleeast/02IRAQ.html?8br], while [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] prefers simply to use ''Saddam'' [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=42559]. A full discussion can be found [http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/words/saddam_hussein.html here] (Blair Shewchuk, [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC News Online]]).</ref><!-- -->; [[April 28]], [[1937]]<ref name="ref2"> 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 a date between 1935 and 1939. From Con Coughlin, ''Saddam The Secret Life'' Pan Books, 2003 (ISBN 0-330-39310-3). </ref> – [[December 30]] [[2006]]<ref name="CNNexecution">{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/29/hussein/index.html |publisher=CNN.com |title=Hussein executed with 'fear in his face' |date=[[2006-12-30]]}}</ref>), was the [[President of Iraq|President]] of [[Iraq]] from [[July 16]], [[1979]] until [[April 9]] [[2003]]. |
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As vice president under his cousin, General [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]], Saddam tightly controlled conflict between the [[Government of Iraq|government]] and the [[Military of Iraq|armed forces]] by creating repressive security forces and cementing his own firm authority over the apparatus of government. Saddam led Iraq as head of the [[Ba'ath Party]], kept the country unified<ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-2526020,00.html</ref>, practiced [[Single-party state|one-party rule]], [[Political repression|censorship]], instigated violence against Iraq's [[Shi'a Islam|Shia]], [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]], and [[Marsh Arabs|Marsh Arab]] populations. He also espoused [[secularity|secular]] [[pan-Arabism]], economic [[modernization]], and [[Arab socialism]]. |
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Saddam tried to build Iraq into a regional power. Under Saddam, Iraq fought Iran (1980–1988) and invaded [[Kuwait]] in [[1990]] leading to the Gulf War in 1991. Suspicion among US and UK government members (in a political climate affected by [[9/11]]) that Saddam was attempting to build [[weapons of mass destruction]] ultimately led to his downfall. Saddam's government collapsed as a result of the 2003 invasion of Iraq led by the [[United States]], and he was captured by American forces on [[December 13]] [[2003]]. On [[November 5]] [[2006]], he was convicted of [[crimes against humanity]] by the [[Iraq Special Tribunal]] and was [[Execution of Saddam Hussein|sentenced to death]] by [[hanging]].<ref name=bbc_on_death_sentence>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6117910.stm Saddam Hussein sentenced to death], ''BBC World Service'', [[November 11]], [[2006]].</ref> |
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On [[December 26]], Saddam's appeal was rejected and the death sentence upheld. He was hanged, in front of lawyers, officials, and a doctor at approximately 06:00 Baghdad time (03:00 [[UTC]]) on [[December 30]], [[2006]], according to Iraqi television.<ref name="BBCexecution">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6218485.stm |publisher=BBC News |title=Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq |date=[[2006-12-30]]}}</ref> |
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==Youth== |
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Saddam Hussein Kazmi was born in the town of [[Al-Awja]], 13 [[kilometre]]s (8 mi) from the Iraqi town of [[Tikrit]] in the Sunni Triangle, to a family of shepherds from the al-Begat tribal group. His mother, Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat, named her newborn son "Saddam", which in Arabic means "One who confronts". He never knew his father, Hussein 'Abd al-Majid, who disappeared six months before Saddam was born. He was the son of Musa Al-Kazim, one of the Sunni Imams of the Ahlul Bait. Shortly afterward, Saddam's 13-year-old brother died of [[cancer]], leaving his mother severely [[clinical depression|depressed]] in the final months of the pregnancy. The infant Saddam was sent to the family of his maternal uncle, [[Khairallah Talfah]], until he was three.<ref name="ref5">From Elisabeth Bumiller's interview of Jerrold M. Grumpkin, the founder of the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior at the [[CIA]] in the ''New York Times'' ([[15 May]] [[2004]]) on the importance of events during Saddam Hussein's youth. It can be read online at [http://hnn.us/roundup/archives/11/2004/05/#5225].</ref> |
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His mother remarried, and Saddam gained three half-brothers through this marriage. His stepfather, Ibrahim al-Hassan, treated Saddam harshly after his return. At about the age of 10, Saddam fled the family and returned to live in Baghdad with his uncle, Kharaillah Tulfah. Tulfah, the father of Saddam's future wife, was a devout [[Sunni]] Muslim. Later in his life, relatives from his native Tikrit would become some of his closest advisors and supporters. According to Saddam, he learned many things from his uncle, a militant Iraqi nationalist. Under the guidance of his uncle, he attended a nationalistic secondary school in Baghdad. After secondary school, Saddam studied at Iraq's School of Law for three years, prior to dropping out in 1957, at age 20, to join the revolutionary [[pan-Arab]] Ba'ath Party, of which his uncle was a supporter. During this time, Saddam apparently supported himself as a secondary school teacher.<ref name="ref6">Hanna Batatu, ''The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq'' (Princeton, 1978).</ref> |
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Revolutionary sentiment was characteristic of the era in Iraq and throughout the [[Middle East]]. The stranglehold of the old elites (the conservative [[monarchism|monarchists]], established families, and merchants) was breaking down in Iraq. Moreover, the [[populism|populist]] pan-Arab nationalism of [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] in [[Egypt]] would profoundly influence the young Ba'athist, even up to the present day. The rise of [[Nasser]] foreshadowed a wave of revolutions throughout the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s, which would see the collapse of the monarchies of Iraq, Egypt, and [[Libya]]. Nasser challenged the [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[France|French]], nationalized the [[Suez Canal]], and strove to modernize Egypt and unite the Arab world politically. |
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In 1958, a year after Saddam had joined the Ba'ath party, army officers led by General [[Abdul Karim Qassim]] overthrew [[Faisal II of Iraq]]. The Ba'athists opposed the new government, and in 1959, Saddam was involved in the attempted United States-backed plot to [[assassination|assassinate]] Qassim.<ref>[http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/4/10/205859.shtml Saddam Key in Early CIA Plot], NewsMax.com, April 11, 2003</ref> |
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Saddam was shot in the leg, but escaped to Tikrit. He then crossed into [[Syria]] and was transferred to [[Beirut]]. From there he moved to [[Cairo]]. He was sentenced to death ''[[in absentia]]''. Saddam studied law at the [[Cairo University]] during his exile. |
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==Rise to power== |
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Concerned about Qassim's growing ties to [[Communist]]s as the [[Cold War]] continued, the CIA gave assistance to the Ba'ath Party and other regime opponents.<ref name="Morris">Morris, Roger, [http://readthese.blogspot.com/2003_12_15_readthese_archive.html "Remember: Saddam was our man"], ''New York Times'', [[March 14]] [[2003]]</ref> Army officers with ties to the Ba'ath Party overthrew Qassim in a coup in 1963. Ba'athist leaders were appointed to the cabinet and [[Abdul Salam Arif]] became president. Arif dismissed and arrested the Ba'athist leaders later that year. Saddam returned to Iraq, but was imprisoned in 1964. Just prior to his imprisonment and until 1968, Saddam held the position of Ba'ath Party secretary. <ref name="Hanna Batatu">, ''The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq'' (Princeton 1978)."</ref> He escaped prison in 1967 and quickly became a leading member of the party. In 1968, Saddam participated in a bloodless coup led by both [[Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr]] and Briyan Al-Reddyb that overthrew [[Abdul Rahman Arif]]. al-Bakr was named president and Saddam was named his deputy, and Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council. Saddam soon became the regime's most powerful player. According to biographers, Saddam never forgot the tensions within the first Ba'athist government, which informed his measures to promote Ba'ath party unity as well as his ruthless resolve to maintain power and programs to ensure social stability. |