Assigned Blog #9

Saddam Hussein was the 5th president of Iraq, from July 16th, 1979 to April 9th, 2003, and a strong leader of the Ba'ath Party. He was born in the town of Al-Awja on the 28th of April, 1937, and died on December 30th, 2006 (by execution in the US). His early childhood was spent first with his uncle, then with his mother and abusive step-father. At the age of 10, he ran away from his parents and back to his much kinder uncle, who took him in. Saddam went to school, graduated, and continued on to law school until he dropped out when he turned 20. With support from his uncle, Saddam got a job as a teacher and joined the Ba'ath Party.In 1963, the Ba'ath Party came to power, but was removed a year later; many members were arrested, including Saddam, who escaped in 1967. Another year later, he and the regrouped Ba'ath Party overthrew the former-Ba'athist who was the current leader (Abdul Salam Arif) and Saddam became vice-president. He continued to gain support through this period, until 1979, when he formally became president. Before that, he had slowly become the nation's leader in nearly every person's eyes, due to the real president's failing health.Because Saddam believed in secular pan-Arabism, economic modernization, and Arab socialism, the new government under his control changed. Women were given new rights they hadn't had before, and Iraq no longer governed by traditional Islamic rules. To promote his ideas and stomp out the competition (so to speak), he had his face painted nearly everywhere; portraits were on official buildings, tourist destinations, schools, parks, etc. He had his enemies assassinated or arrested; often they were tortured and kept in captivity as well. Essentially, he became a tyrant in the eyes of foreigners, but a hero in the eyes of many of his own people.In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq (among many other reasons, 9-11 was a key prompting that led the U.S. to attack, although Saddam claimed Iraq had nothing to do with it) and Saddam fled. The government and army of Iraq fell apart, and the search for Saddam became more wide-spread after April 9th (when U.S. forces invaded Baghdad, where Saddam was thought to be hiding). On December 13 of 2003, Saddam was found in a rural farmhouse in good health.After trails, Saddam was convicted and sentenced to hanging. Charges were "crimes against humanity" among other things (such as illegal arrest of innocent people, torture of women and children, ordering assassinations, etc.). Controversy arose after the execution on whether Saddam was treated correctly before his execution and whether he was actually executed by hanging. His last letter was released to the public by his lawyers; it spoke of how good a man he really was, and told his people to forgive those who repented from killing him.

Saddam Hussein; surrounded by supporters in Bahgdad, during U.S. invasion.

Saddam Hussein.I know Saddam Hussein wasn't really the nicest guy, but he had a family, you know? While researching this, I couldn't help but think how all this must have affected them; he had 3 daughters, 2 sons, 2 son-in-laws, 1 daughter-in-law, and a wife. His two sons and one of his grandsons was killed in a spat with the U.S. forces in July of 2003. This must have been a tragedy, although one of the sons was widely hated for his erratic behavior. So, I do feel sorry for his family.

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