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{{Dictator bio| image =[[ImageFile:Saddam3Saddam Hussein, 1998.jpg|right250px]]|thumbname =Saddam Hussein|birth =April 28, 1937<ref>https://www.geni.com/people/Saddam -Hussein/6000000040682786862</ref><br/>Al-Awja, Iraq| parents =Hussein 'Abid al-Majid<br/>Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat| religion =Islam (Sunni)| education =Cairo Law School, Egypt 1962-65 (dropped out)<br/>University of Baghdad (law degree, 1971)| spouse =Sajida Talfah| children =Uday Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti<br/>Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti<br/>Raghad Saddam<br/>Rana Saddam<br/>Hala Saddam| death =December 30, 2006 <br/>Kadhimiya, Iraq| deathmanner =Executed by hanging| burial =Al-Awja, Iraq| country =[[Iraq]]| military =n/a| rank =n/a| polbeliefs =[[Ba'athist]]| party =[[Ba''Saddam Husseinath Party]]| dictatordate =July 22, 1979| war =[[Iran-Iraq War]]<br/>[[Invasion of Kuwait]]| deathnumber =1,000,000+}}''' Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti, ''' (most often referred to as simply Saddam Hussein) (April 28, 1937 – December 30, 2006) was the [[Sunni]] President of [[Iraq]] from July 16, 1979<ref>http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aasaddambio.htm</ref> to December 14, 2003.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3317429.stm</ref>Hussein was a Socialist, following other modern [[Socialist]] movements and the [[Nasser]] model. Sadam He brought change and [[secularization]] to an otherwise faith-based and religiously guided society. Saddam was a social revolutionary , and even appointed Tariq Aziz, a modernizer, following other modern member of the [[SocialistChaldeans]] movements and the Nasser model, as Deputy prime minister from 1983-2003. To the consternation of Islamic conservatives, his government gave women freedoms and offered them high-level government and industry jobs. Saddam Hussein also created a Western-style legal system, making Iraq the only country in the Persian Gulf region not ruled according to traditional Islamic law (Sharia). Saddam Hussein abolished the Sharia law courts, except for personal injury claims.
==Iran -Iraq War== During the 1980s, during the [[Iran-Iraq War]], the [[United States of America|United States]] considered Saddam Hussein to be a friend and assisted him with loans <ref>http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/</ref> up until the time of the [[Iranian initiative]] under [[President Ronald Reagan ]] when U.S. policy shifted. Fearing the threat to Iraq's neighbors, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Gulf States if a militarized Iraq under Saddam Hussein emerged from the war intact, the U.S. through intermediaries began selling [[TOW missile]]s to Iran in what has come to be known as the [[Iran/Contra affair]], to break the deadlock and tip the balance in favor Iran.
He was one of the few modern leaders who used [[weapons of mass destruction]], specifically [[chemical weapon]]s, in war; and was the instigator of at least two wars: the [[Iran-Iraq War]] during the 1980s and Iraq's August, 1990, invasion of Kuwait.
==Trial and Execution==[[Image:Saddam6.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Saddam Husseinafter his capture, December 2003]]Captured by U.S. forces on December 13, 2003, Saddam Hussein was brought to trial under the Iraqi interim government set up by U.S.-led forces. Saddam held the Islamic book, the Quran, during the trial.<ref>https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/msnbc/Components/Photos/051128/051128_saddam_hmed-10236093.jpg</ref> On November 5 , 2006, a tribunal found him and 6 other codefendants co-defendants guilty of charges related to the executions of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites suspected of planning an assassination attempt against him. He was consequently sentenced to death by hanging. Following the sentence being affirmed on appeal, he was executed on December 30, 2006. == See also == *[[Ramzan Kadyrov]]
==See also==
[[Abdel Bari Atwan]]
==References==
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