Saddam Hussein Essay, Research Paper

Saddam Hussein was born April 28th, 1937. He was born in a place called Tikrit District, in Iraq.

At the age of 9 months Saddam became an orphan, he was raised by his Uncle, Khairallah Talfah, an anti colonialist, who led an unsuccessful coup and bid for independence in 1941. (Axelrod, Dictators and Tyrants, p.145)

Saddam has been the president of Iraq since 1979. He was a strong believer in terrorism, and he supported it as well. He is chairman of the Revolutionary Common Council of the Baath Party, which sets the government policies. Using Iraq’s huge petroleum resources , Hussein supervised a successful development program in the 1970’s. This was hulted by a war between Iraq and Iran from 1980 until 1988, when a cease-fire was declared. Hussein now was known for his ruthless actions. For example in the 1980’s he used chemical weapons against Kurdish people of Iraq, who were seeking self government. ( Le Gall, World Book Encyclopedia, p.457).

In August 1990, Hussein ordered Iraqi forces to invade Kuwait. He accused Kuwait of violating oil production limits set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), thus lowering the price of oil. Hussein announced that his country had annexed Kuwait.

Many countries, including our own United States, Canada, and Several Arab and Western European nations, opposed the invasion and sent forces to the region. These forces formed an allied military coalition. The United Nations Security Council approved the use of military force to remove the Iraqi troops from Kuwait, if they did not leave Kuwait by January 15, 1991. Saddam refused to withdraw his troops, and war broke out on January 16, US time, which was January 17 in Iraq. The allies bombed military targets in Iraq and Kuwait, and Iraq launched missiles against Saudi Arabia and Israel that took out some 300 oil fields, leaving about 80,000 men without their property. In February allied land forces moved into Kuwait. They quickly defeated the occupying Iraqi forces. Domestically, Saddam’s rule has been marked by police-state terror. He has struggled particularly with the rebellious Kurds, against whom he used nerve gas on March 16, 1988. Internationally, he has shown himself to be bellicose, blustering and, many have suggested , wholly irrational. Husseins government failed to fulfill the terms of a United Nations Cease-fire agreement. The United Nations maintained a trade embargo on Iraq, seriously harming the country’s economy. As of now Saddam, who has a long record of supporting terrorism, is trying to rebuild his intelligence network overseas, assets that would allow him to establish a terrorism network.

His education back round would be, a student of the University of Cairo law school, 1962; Law degree, University of Baghdad, 1971.

Saddam’s family includes his wife, Sajida Khair-Allah, 2 sons and 3 daughters. He is of the Muslim Religion.

To sum it all up, in Husseins early years, he participated in attempted assassination of Iraqi leader Abdul Karim Kassem, 1959; Organized militia that helped bring Baath party to power in bloodless coup, 1968. And his political career would be when He joined the Baath Party, 1957; Acting deputy chairman, Revolutionary Command Council, 1968-69; Deputy chairman, 1969-79; Chairman, 1979-; President of Iraq, 1979-; Prime Minister, 1994- .

Suddam came to power through Student activism, exile, and imprisonment. (http://www.518.com/Iraq/ Saddam/htm)