Saddam's journey from birth to death

Saddam Hussein was born in the small town of al-Auja near Tikrit, Iraq. The son of a landless peasant, Saddam was sent to stay with his uncle at the age of 10.

It was there, at that tender age that he got his first taste of politics. His tutor Khayrallah - who used to teach him how to read and write - had been dismissed from the Iraqi army for disciplinary reasons that included supporting a failed Pro-Nazi coup attempt.

Some of Khayrallah's bitterness began to be transferred to Saddam. At the age of 16, when he finished school, he tried (and failed) to get a seat at the prestigious Baghdad Military Academy.

He compensated by getting more deeply involved in political matters and in 1956, joined the Iraqi branch of the Arab Ba'th Socialist Party - a radical nationalist movement.

Two years later, he was sentenced to six months in jail for activities against the regime. Just a year later, fresh out of prison, Saddam participated in the coup attempt against prime minister Abdul Karim Qassim.

He was shot once in the leg during the attempt to destabilise the regime and though the attack was unsuccessful, it gave a boost to Saddam's political career and hoisted him a position of leadership in the party.

Despite the promotion, Saddam fled to Syria and from there to Egypt - where he spent the next four years completing his education - both in school and politically.

The General Qassim regime sentenced him to death in absentia. However, in 1963, a group of Baathist officers assassinated Qassim and Saddam rushed back to Iraq to join them as a toruturer and rose quickly through the ranks.

The Ba'th Party split in 1964 and since Saddam had supported the stronger faction in the party, he become more important than ever before.

However, in 1964 he was jailed by those who resented the Ba'th Party being taken over. While in jail, he was appointed the Deputy Secretary General of his faction of the Ba'th Party.

In 1967, he managed to escape from jail and took active part in two coups to try and topple the then Iraqi regime.

He set up a Baathist internal party security system known and the following year, another upheaval in Iraq gave him the opportunity for further advancement. The Baathist seized the government and he was made Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, in charge of internal security - a position he held for almost 10 years.

He then started nationalising the oil resources in Iraq, which till then had been controlled by Western companies. During this time he also consolidated his political and monetary position.

Nepotism was rampant under his regime as in charge of internal security and his family members soon accquired positions of wealth and power in Iraq.

In 1975, he signed the Algiers Accord with Iran indicating that his position was stronger than his ally Bakr. By 1979 he had assumed the position of president and stripped Bakr of all powers when he discovered Bakr was trying to broker peace between Syria and Iraq, putting him under house arrest.

The following year, he terminated the border agreement with Iran starting a war and by 1986, was able to gain all territory that had been lost to Iran - ironically with the help of the US navy in the Persian Gulf.

PAGE_BREAK

Between February and September 1988 Saddam Hussein ordered a massive displacement operation, known as the Anfal (Arabic for "spoils") campaign, against the Kurdish population in northern Iraq.

The operation was orchestrated by Saddam Hussein's cousin, General Ali Hassan al-Majid. Hundreds of villages were depopulated and razed to the ground. Chemical weapons were also used.

Eyewitness accounts, documents seized from Iraqi security organs during the post-1991 Gulf War uprising and information gathered by international human rights groups indicate that up to 182,000 people were killed.

The war with Iran ended but he started a war with Kuwait over a dispute about oil prices and political control of the Persian Gulf in 1990, earning international condemnation and threats of intervention. When Saddam refused to back down, international forces of more than 30 countries retaliated in 1991 and he was forced into a quick defeat.

Despite this, his power did not seem to diminish. In fact, he had become more popular if possible and his rule was complete in Iraq.

In the early 90's, the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq, in order to force the country to reduce its military defenses, based on the agreement reached in the peace agreement after the war of 1991.

The sanctions resulted in a heavy decline in the Iraqi economy, reduction in food supplies, and poor public health services, but not a weaker position for Saddam.

However, the sanctions began to be perceived as a failure because Saddam's position was as strong as ever. Many countries pointed out that the sanctions should be lifted to lessen the hardships on the general population and also because Saddam had not been involved in any military buildup during the sanctions.

In 2002, with the sanctions lifted, the Iraqis staged a 'mock' ballot in which Saddam was the only candidate. The following year, US President George Bush demanded that Saddam leave Iraq with his sons.

When Saddam did not comply, the US attacked. In April of the same year, Saddam lost power in Iraq, taking refuge in North Baghdad. In July, his sons were killed by US forces and in December Saddam himself was captured. He surrendered without a struggle.

He was then made to appear in a front of an Iraqi court facing charges of crimes against the people of Iraq.

In November, 2006, Saddam was finally convicted for his crimes and awarded the death penalty.

On December 30, 2006, Saddam was executed by hanging in Iraq.