Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein was born on April 28, 1937 and was the president of Iraq from July 16, 1979 until April 9, 2003.

Hussein was born in the town of Al-Awhja, Iraq. His family was shepherds from the tribal group al-Begat.

In 1963 Ary officers related to the revolutionary Ba'ath Party which Hussein was part of overthrew Qassim, their original leader and Abdul Salam Arif was appointed president and in the same year was arrested. In 1964 Hussien was imprisoned. Just before and until 1968 he was the secretary of the Ba'ath party. He escaped from prison in 1967 and quickly became the newest leader of the party. In 1968 he lead a coup to take out Abdu Rahman Arif. It was said he never forgot the tensions within the first Ba'athist government. When promoting the Ba'ath party he made it known he wanted to maintain power and programs that would ensure social stability.

In the early 1970's Saddam moved up the ranks in the new government by taking lead in addressing the country's major domestic problems and created a larger following of the party. In 1972 he oversaw the control of the oil industry in the country and in the same year the price of oil skyrocketed making him even more admired. His main goal at the time was the modernization of the country. This included free schooling to the highest levels and hospitalization, support to the families of soldiers and farmers. He earned an award for this from the United Nations.

In a move to secure his power he forced al-Bakr to resign as president and took over presidency on July 16, 1979. He created a Western-influenced legal system, making Iraq the only country in the Persian Gulf area to not be ruled by traditional Islamic law.

U.S. President Bill Clinton was threatened by Hussein because of his threat to countries such as Saudi Arabia and Israel who are large oil allies to the States. He made numerous air-strikes on Iraq's No-Fly zones and hoped internal forces would overthrow the government. In 2002 President Bush announced he was going to take action to bring the Iraqi government down because of it's hostility towards the States and it's weapons of mass destruction. Within the first few weeks of the attacks the government collapsed but they failed to kill Hussein in at least two air-strikes.

Finally in April 2003 he was captured and was put on trail for committing crimes against residents of Dujail, the murder of 148 people, the torture of women and children, and the illegal arrest of 399 others, just to name a few. On December 30, 2006 he was hanged even though he wished to be shot which he believed to be a more dignified execution. It was carried out at "Camp Justice", an Iraqi army base in Kadhimiya, northeast of Bagad.

I think Saddam Hussein was an important figure in the pushing of modernization in Iraq and without him the country may have never changed for the better. At the same time I think he was possibly a bit too much of a dictator and didn't work with the country. He could have also retained from some of the acts he committed in order to "modernize" the country like the numerous murders and torture victims.