Rise and Fall of Saddam Hussein - Research Paper Example

? Saddam Hussein: Rise and Fall of Power The following work gives an outline of rise and fall of the remarkable president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. First, a brief personal history of his early years is given. Next, his early years in political career and his association with the Ba’ath party are discussed briefly. His activities under different rulers are outlined, next. His appointment as vice chairman of RCC followed by his succession as the President of Iraq is discussed in this work. There is a brief mention of his ruling style in Iraq. Then a brief outline of Iran-Iraq war is given. His invasion of Kuwait and the gulf war is discussed next. The American attack on Iraq in 2003 is discussed in the end. The fall of his government, capture of Bagdad and his hiding is given in this part. This work ends with mentions of events like capture of Saddam Hussein, his trial in Iraqi special court and is execution by Hanging. Introduction: Saddam Hussein was one of the most remarkable figures in the history of the world. He was one of those men in the world who have changed the course of history. His rise and fall is linked with many important events in the history. His rise to power was an important event in the Middle East. Then there was Iran-Iraq War in which Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam, fought a prolonged war against its neighbour Iran. There was Gulf War; which was the direct consequence of his invasion in Kuwait. President George Bush Sr. Sent troops to free Kuwait from the clutches of Saddam. Then in 2003 a coalition force of mainly US force and some British force invaded Iraq and marked the end of Saddam Hussein. Birth and Early Years: Saddam Hussein was born on April 28 in the year 1937 in a poor Iraqi family. His birth place was a village near the Iraqi town, Tikrit. Few years after his birth, his father died. His mother married again. Saddam had an uncle, his mother’s brother, named Khairallah Talfah. Khairallah was a leader of an anti-king group. Some people in Iraq were not happy with the Iraqi king. They thought he was too close to Britain and was controlled by Britain. Khairallah was imprisoned for his anti government activities. Later he was released and took a job as a teacher. In 1947 at the age of 10 Saddam came to stay with his uncle. He was admitted to school. In 1955 Khairallah moved to Bagdad, and Saddam came along with him. His uncle was still anti-government and had interests in anti-government movements. They had the same allegation against the king: that he was under the power of Great Britain. Staying in Bagdad with his uncle Saddam too became interested in politics. He was influenced by his uncle and became an anti-king too. He even took part in 1952 riot in Bagdad. This was the beginning of his political career. Around this time his uncle introduced him with Ahmed Hassan-al-Bakr, an army general and his relative. Khairallah wanted him to take Saddam as his protege (Anderson, 2004, pp.10-16). Beginning of Political Career: Around 1956-57 Saddam started attending Ba’ath Party meetings. The party’s ambitious aim was to form a pan-Islamic union with all the Arabian nations. Saddam was inspired by the party’s ideology and became a supporter. He joined the party in a minor post but he was popular among his comrades. The popularity of Ba’ath Party grew in Iraq and other Arab nations. At the same time, anger against the Great Britain’s favourite the Iraqi king grew. There was a state of unrest and people were on the streets. In 1958 general Abdel Karim Kassem marched into Bagdad. He killed the king and the Prime Minister along with other important government officers and took the power. Ba’ath supported Kassem at the beginning. But the party had differences with him. Kassem did not like them either. Gradually the distance between Kassem and Ba’ath increased. They became enemy of Kassem. Ba’ath party leaders made a plot to kill Kassem. Saddam and six other party youths were selected to carry out the assassination. On October 7 1959 the seven youth attempted to kill Kassem but failed. Saddam was wounded but managed to get away. He fled the country (Anderson, 2004, p.24). Saddam became a full-time member of Ba’ath party in Syria. However he had to take shelter in Egypt as he was wanted in his own country. In Egypt Saddam resumed his education and studied law. Meanwhile, popularity of Kassem dipped in Iraq. Number of his enemies grew, both inside and outside the country. Ba’ath party leaders secretly maintained connections with important army officers in Kassem government. Popularity of Ba’ath party grew among army officers. Many Arab nations too did not like Kassem. UK and USA hated him too. During this time the CIA have helped Ba’ath party. Factions in Iraq army with ties to Ba’ath party overthrew Kassem in 1963. Abdul Salam Arif became the president of Iraq. Saddam got a job in the president’s office (Anderson, 2004, pp.25-31). But soon a rift developed between president Arif and members of Ba’ath party. As a result, Saddam along with many other Ba’ath Party members were imprisoned. However, Saddam escaped from the prison in 1966. In the same year President Arif was killed in an air crash. Abdul Rahman Arif became the new president. The new president was weak and was controlled by army and other groups including Ba’ath party (Anderson, 2004, p.31). In 1967 the Ba’ath party got an unexpected opportunity to grow its power against government by luck. Israel attacked Egypt Syria and other Arab nations. In just seven days they achieved dramatic victories. This made people of Arab nations furious, including the people of Iraq. People of Iraq accused their government that they are not taking sufficient action against Israel. They started protesting against the government. In July 17 1968, with the help from Ba’ath party, an army coup took place. President Arif fled the country. Ba’ath party formed the government and Al-Bakr became the president. Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) was formed to run the government. Saddam was the head of Government Security Force (Anderson, 2004, pp. 37-39). Saddam Became the President of Iraq: However the Iraqi government was not exclusively run by Ba’ath party, there was other groups. But Ba’ath did not like to share power because of their previous unhappy experiences. Gradually, Bakr’s power increased. So did the power of Saddam. He became the vice chairman of the RCC while Bakr was the chairman. Saddam started playing important roles in the government. Different national and international policies were influenced by him. He persuaded the government to nationalize the oil companies. In 1979 he was rose to become the General of Iraqi Armed Forces. Clearly he was second in the government after president Bakr. However, Saddam once felt threatened when Bakr proposed to bring together Syria and Iraq under Ba’ath party. This would have replaced Saddam from the post of vice-chairman by a Syrian leader. Saddam played his cards and used his influence with the army officers and other party members. Moreover Bakr was weak and ailing of old age. Saddam forced Bakr to declare his own retirement and make Saddam his successor. On July 16 1979 Saddam Hussein became the president of Iraq. (Arnold, 2009, pp.42-47) Immediately after coming to power Saddam's main aim was to secure his position. He began this by executing most of the Ba’ath party leaders and the members of RCC. He accused them of conspiring against him. Now he got nobody to challenge him. His next job was to win the hearts of military officials. He increased defence spending and raised the salary of officers. He provided them other facilities like better housing and some luxury. The officers who were close to Ba’ath party were assured of getting good positions for their sons in Iraq’s military. Their position in Saddam’s military rose. (Arnold, 2009, pp. 47-48) The Iran-Iraq War: When Saddam came to power in 1979 his neighbour Iran was also going through changes. The Shah government of Iran collapsed under 1978-79 uprising. An Islamic Republic of Iran was established, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini became its supreme leader in 1979 (Arnold, 2009, p.49). Saddam ‘hated, feared and desired Iran’ all at the same time (Richie, 2003, p. 18). He hated Iran because it was powerful and checked his ambition of becoming most powerful leader in the Middle East. He feared Khomeini as he was a Shiaite leader and could provoke the majority Shia population in Iraq. Though Saddam and his Ba’ath party was in power, they were Sunni Muslims. Saddam desired Iran for its oil (Richie, 2003, pp. 18-19) Evidences show that USA secretly supported Iraq against Iran. They provided helicopters to Iraq that could be converted into military helicopters. USA did not like an extremist Islamic leader like Khomeini in the Middle East. Iraq attacked Iran in September 1980. The war lasted for 8 years. Iraqi military killed more than 50 000 Iranians in more than 2000 attacks. They have also used chemical weapons against Iran. During the war there was unrest in northern part of the Iraq, Kurdistan. The Kurdish people wanted independence from Iraq. Saddam brutally suppressed them. In March 1988 he used poison gas and killed more than 5000 Kurds. Iran was defeated in the war. They accepted cease-fire in August 1988. Iraq’s victory was just a marginal one. There was no gain or loss of territory for either side. But this war left huge number of Iranians and Iraqis dead, injured and homeless. As a result of the war Saddam became second most powerful in Middle East, after Israel (Richie, 2003, pp. 20-21). The Gulf War: As a direct result of the Iran Iraq war Saddam was in debt. He needed money to rebuild Iraq; and he needed it quick. He saw, only oil can give him quick money. His gaze fell on the Saudi and Kuwaiti oil fields, and decided to invade Kuwait (Richie, 2003, pp. 22-23). First Saddam asked Kuwait to drop its oil production to raise international oil price. Then there was a dispute on two islands that could gave Iraq the access to the Gulf. There was also a dispute over an oilfield. Iraq informed the US embassy in Bagdad that they will use force just to take possession of the two small islands and the oil field. US signalled that they will remain neutral (Richie, 2003, p. 26). Saddam invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and took all of it. Though US saw Iraqi military movements through satellite pictures before, but they did not expect attack. They saw Iraq, who had almost 11% of world’s total oil reserve, now got control of almost 20% by taking Kuwait’s oil fields. And if Saddam gets more ambitious and continues southward he might invade the Saudi Arabia. With Saudi’s oilfields, which is about 26% of world’s total oil reserve, Saddam could control almost 46% of world’s total oil reserve. The USA saw it bad for one person to control so much. Saddam could control the world economy. President Bush’s (Sr.) advisors reminded him about ‘Carter doctrine’ of 1980, by which US will consider any aggression in the Gulf region ‘as an assault on the vital interest of the United States of America’... ‘will be repelled by any means including military force’ (Richie, 2003, p. 25). President Bush decided to retaliate to save Kuwait (Richie, 2003, p.25). More than 30 UN countries formed a coalition to retaliate against Iraq. UN imposed economic sanction on Iraq. The UN Security Council resolution gave Saddam ultimatum to leave Kuwait by January 15 1991. But Saddam refused to bow. He strengthened his force in Kuwait. He had Russian made T-72 tanks, moderately advance fighter planes, surface to air missiles and Scud ballistic missiles as main weapons. But with superior US air power the coalition forces defeated Saddam. The American B-52 Bombers and round the clock missile attack on Iraqi targets weakened Saddam. The coalition forces pushed out Saddam from Kuwait in February 1991 and took some portion of the southern Iraq. Many Iraqi soldiers were taken as prisoners. And Iraq agreed to cease fire (Richie, 2003, pp.26-29). The 2003 US Attack on Iraq and Fall of Saddam: After the defeat in Gulf war Saddam’s power was much reduced. Iraq was constantly under UN economic sanctions. Not much military activity could be seen in Iraq. After the 9/11 attack president Bush (Jr.) swore to destroy different terrorist groups in different parts of the world. To accomplish his mission he sent troops to Afghanistan. However, he insisted that Iraq too was giving shelters to terrorist groups. In his address to state of union he told about his suspicion. He accused Iraq of secretly building chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction (President George W. Bush 2002). However, Saddam constantly denied the allegations (Chan 2009). And US could not show any substantial evidence of Iraq building weapons of mass destruction. Still US led coalition forces comprising mostly US forces and some British forces invaded Iraq. The invasion began on March 20, 2003. They won an easy victory. The Iraqi military was destroyed and the government was toppled. Bagdad was taken by the coalition force. The pulling down of Saddam’s statue on April 9 symbolized the end of Saddam era in Iraq. Saddam went into hiding (Miller, 2011, pp.7-20). Capture, Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein: Saddam was soon captured on December 15, 2003 from a farm house near Tikrit, his birth place (CNN, 2003). After his capture his trial began in a special Iraqi court. He was charged with murders, and torture of his own people. The court found him guilty. His appeals were useless. The court sentenced him to death by hanging (Karouny & Villelabeitia, 2006). On December 30 2006 he was hanged to death. Thus the story of a remarkable figure ended (BBC News, 2006). Conclusion: This is the story of rise and fall of Saddam Hussein. He started from almost nothing, rose to the top of power and became one of the most powerful persons in Middle East. He was directly connected with some of the most remarkable events of the world like Iran-Iraq war, Gulf War and 2003 Iraq war; and changed the course of history. When his end came a new era began in the Middle East. References Anderson, D. (2004). Saddam Hussein. Minneapolis: Learner Publishing Co. Arnold, J. R. (2009). Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books. BBC News (December 30, 2006). Saddam Hussein Executed in Iraq. BBC. Retrieved on 25 May 2013 from Chan, S. (February 11, 2009) Behind the Scenes with Saddam. CBS Evening News. Retrieved on 25 May 2013 from CNN (December 15, 2003). Saddam ‘Caught Like a Rat’ in a Hole. CNN International. Retrieved on 25 May 2013 from Karouny, M. And Villelabeitia, I. (December 26, 2006). Iraq Court Upholds Saddam Death Sentence. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 25 May 2013 from Miller, M. (2011) The Iraq War a Controversial War in Perspective. Melrose Park: Lake Book Mfg. Inc. President George W. Bush (January 29, 2002). President Delivers State of Union Address. The White House. Retrieved on 25 May 2013 from Read More