The Life of Saddam Hussein Essay
The Life of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein was born on April 28th 1937 in Al-Awja, a small Iraqi town. At a young age Hussain fled from his abusive father to live with his uncle who was a devoted Sunni Muslim. His uncle had Saddam attend a nationalist secondary school and after graduating Hussein studied law for three years but didn’t earn a degree until he was older. At the age of 20 Hussein joined the Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party also known as ABSP. After receiving six months of jail time 5 years previous for political activities against the government he was again sentenced to jail for being part of ABSP.
But while in jail Hussein was elected part of the ABSP’s Pan-Arab National Leadership. Saddam later would escape from jail and rise through the Ba’ath Party ranks. He earned a degree in law from Baghdad university which helped him become a powerful politician who was known for being “effective and progressive”. In 1972, he began developing a chemical weapons program and signed a treaty with the USSR for their friendship and cooperation. Throughout the 1970’s, Saddam Hussein led his nation through urbanization by providing electricity to rural Iraq and also developing national infrastructure.
Hussein also helped his image grow when creating a state of the art public health system which was considered to be one of the best in the Middle East at the time. Hussein continued his accomplishments when being elected assistant secretary general of the National Pan- Arab Leadership. In the year 1979 Saddam earns three create accomplishments to his resume. First off, he was elected president of his homeland. Second, he was elected secretary general of the regional leadership of Ba’ath. Lastly, he was elected chairman of the Revolution Command Council.
The 1970’s can be argued to be Saddams best decade before destroying his image throughout the world. After becoming president in 1979 Hussein started a war with neighboring Iran in 1980 after invading one of Iran’s oil provinces. It only took a year or two before Saddam used the chemical weapons produced from his chemical weapons program which began in 1972 to kill thousands of innocent people. Hussein showed his ruthless leadership when it came to those who were possible threats when Dr. Ibrahim (A man who was responsible for the death of a patient, and was later arrested) was found disassembled when delivered to his wife.
Hussein once again displayed his cruelty when using his chemical weapons once again in 1988 in a Kurdish town killing 5,000 civilians. Soon after the war ended in a stalemate leaving both countries economies in ruins after borrowing tens of billions of dollars from other nations. In 1990, Saddam invaded the oil rich and prospering Kuwait so that Iraq could sell the oil to help pay back their debt. Hussein argued that Kuwait was “historically an integral part of Iraq. ” After invading Kuwait Saddam merged the two countries on August 2nd.
The invasion of Kuwait started a Gulf War which lasted only a year. In 2002 Saddam Hussein was elected president for the 5th straight time winning 99 percent of the vote in a noncompetitive poll. A year later Hussin denies inspectors to search for any nuclear weapons in his country. Ultimately Bush gave Saddam and ultimatum for him and his two sons Uday and Qusay to flee the country in 48 hours or the U. S. will use force. Saddam stood his ground and told the U. S. moved in with Operation Iraqi Freedom. Iraq’s capital was soon taken over forcing the nations president to flee.
Nine months later Saddam Hussein was captured by coalition forces and handed over to the Iraqi government. Hussein was first trialed in July of 2004 for the death of about 150 Shi’a. On October 19th trial began in Iraq, Hussein refused to show his face or reconize the authority of the court. A second trial opened up in 2006 after charges of genocide. On the 5th of November Saddam Hussein was convicted of the charges and is sentenced to death by hanging. Two others were also convicted and given the same punishment. Saddam Hussein was hung on December 30th 2006 at the age of 69.
Saddam Hussein wasn’t always known for being a cruel and evil leader. During his 20’s and 30’s he helped his country prosper and urbanize. He donated money to farmers, brought electricity to most of Iraq, and many other notable contributions to his country and the Middle East. When Saddam Hussein became president that is when things started to go down hill for his reputation of being caring for his country. The beginning half of Saddam Hussein’s life can be inspirational, but the second half can be classified as evil and an example of what leaders can do when feared by most of the world.