Saddam Hussein is known to be one of the world’s worst dictators ever. He was a kind of dictator that came to control Iraq and made tons of money by oil income and those who were working for sake of him were living a rich life, those who supported his political party Baath were quite successful in the country, while those who were in opposition were living a poor and tortured life full of dangers and troubles, fear and tears.

Saddam Hussein had a difficult life from the very beginning of his birth, and that may be one of the reasons why he become a desperate dictator and set up a strong authoritarian regime in Iraq.

He was born on 1937 in Iraq. He was born without a father. His father disappeared about one month before his birth, leaving him without the care of a father. He had an elder brother, who though, also died because of cancer, few months after his birth, leaving their family without a man shoulder and actually helpless. Soon, Saddam Hussein’s mother, affected by the loss of older son and the disappearance of her husband fell into stress and could not brought him up, so he was sent to his uncle. After living some years with his uncle, he returned to his mother and wanted to live with him, however, abused by stepfather, he flew back to Baghdad, to his uncle. As Saddam Hussein was brought up by his uncle, most of the ideas and opinions, attitudes he had were influenced by his uncles’ political mood.

His uncle was a strong nationalist, so Saddam was sent to a nationalistic secondary school, and when he graduated from school, when he was 20, he joint to the party called Baath. This party aimed to unite all the Arabs countries in The Middle East. However, the party’s leader and the president Abd Al- Karim Qasim refused the idea of joining the Arab states into one common state, which put into doubt his ideology and devotedness to his country, so Saddam with other party members tried his assassination. The president was injured several times, but survived. Saddam’s leg was damaged. Some of the members who tried to commit the assassination were executed. However Saddam managed to escape with several others and run away to Syria and then to Egypt.

In 1963, there was a revolution in Iraq, called Ramadan revolution, as a result of which the power of Qasim fell apart. However, one year after his return, he was arrested for fight in Baath party, but in prison he was still active in political field. Soon he escaped to run from prison.  In 1968 there has been some changes in political sphere of Iraq. Ahmed Hassan was appointed as Iraq’s president and Saddam became his right hand and deputy, thus, keeping active and influential in political sphere.  Though Saddam Hussein is strongly criticized for his rude and harsh policy, however he did do some changes and benefits to Iraq. He improved the education system, the infrastructure, social services and industry as a whole. He also developed the military sphere, and the People’s army, developed the idea of creating a nuclear power. However the army and the apparatus he created and developed often were used rape, assassination, violence to reach the goals. In 1979 al- Bakr wanted to make Saddam Hussein less powerful and influential, and thus decided to unite Syria and Iraq, however Saddam made al-Bakr resign and he became the president of Iraq in 1979. Soon after he was appointed as president, he hold a meeting in Baath party, during which he voiced names of about 68 people, these people were arrested immediately. All of these people were found guilty and even 22 of them were sentenced to death. Soon hundreds of his enemies and political oppositions where assassinated.  In 1979 there was a revolution in north neighbor of Iraq, in Iran lead by  Shi-ite.  Same year, Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces invaded the region of Khuzestan, Iran. This region was rich in oil. Despite the fact that this was a violation of international law by Saddam Hussein and Iraq, much of the Western world and Arab world backed Saddam Hussein, being afraid of Islamic radicalism. This in its turn resulted in the situation where Iraq clearly violated human right, but the international community ignored the fact of nuclear power, the use  of chemical weapons and its attitude and behavior toward kurds.1988 after thousands of victims on both sides, finally the war ended and their declared a ceasefire.

So Saddam’s attention drew the rich neighbor, Kuwait. As a justification for his criminal acts Saddam claimed that Kuwait was a historical part of Iraq. This time UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Iraq and demanded to leave the Iraqi forces out of Kuwait in deadline. After the deadline was ignored the UN forces made Iraqi forces leave Kuwait.

During the later years Saddam Hussein did not change a thing in his policy. He continued to develop the chemical weapons and the use of them. He continued the violence against Kurdish people. The violation of no-fly zone by Iraq resulted in attack on Baghdad by United States.

Soon, after seeing the results of Saddam Hussein’s policy, Bush and his administration suspected that Saddam had connections with Osama Bin Laden’s al Qaeda organization. Soon UN started investigations in Iraq to find some proves about the chemical weapon programs. Some programs were really found and soon The US invaded Iraq and Baghdad fell down. Saddam Hussein managed to run away but the government of Iraq was toppled. In upcoming moths US started an intensive search for Saddam Hussein and in 2003, on December, he was finally captured near Tikrit, in a farmhouse. In 2004 he was moved to Baghdad, to the US base, where the Iraqi trial should have decided the verdict over his crimes on humanity.  Saddam Hussein did not even behave in a proper way in court. As a verdict, he was found guilty and was sentenced to death. The sentence to death was upheld, however in 2006, in Baghdad he was hanged, though he had requested to be shot.

Saddam Hussein is known to the world for being one of the worst dictators the whole humanity was acquainted with. The reason why Saddam was such a severe person, I think is that he had a really harsh childhood, which made him be a cold blooded person. He would ease anything that would have been standing on his road, he was a desperate dictator and it was clear that he would end up in a tragic way. He wanted to unite all the Arabs together over one state. This may not sound bad, but I think that this is a very nationalistic approach which in reality was aimed to destabilize the rest of the world. He just wanted only Arabs in this world; however the cost of realization of his dark desires was too high. In order to be able to unite you have to make people love you and be more tolerant towards them, and not to spread deaths and assassinations, hate and violence.  By invading Iraq and Kuwait Saddam showed his real face, he desired for power and he wanted to control the Arab world, and through controlling the Arab world to control the whole world.

Saddam Hussein was really a person who did not know what love meant and just desired power. I don’t honestly think that he should have been hanged. I think people should have kept him alive in prison suffering his whole life from loneliness and seeing his punishment rather than having a quick death.

I think Saddam was really person that unfortunately humanity will remember for a long time, however not as someone to be proud of.

15 facts illuminating various facets to Saddam Hussein

World renowned as a cruel dictator, Saddam Hussein is popular as the Hitler of the Middle East. While US invaders finally put an end to his violence in 2003, there are many facts about the reviled leader that still remain unknown to many. This write-up divulges 15 such facets of Hussein’s life.

1. Probably one of the most shocking things he did was to have the Muslim holy text penned in his blood. The ordeal required over 27 litres of the leader’s blood and took nearly 2 years until the Quran was completed.
2. The son of a shepherd, this dictator spent most of his childhood under the care of his uncle Khairallah Talfah. He later married Talfah’s daughter who was his cousin sister.
3. Hussein was close friends with Kenneth Kaunda the Zambian president. The duo exchanged intriguing presents with Hussein sending over a Boeing 747 to Africa full of precious items.
4. Kaunda’s private magician was gifted to Hussein and the man became his close confidante in later years. The magician was the person who introduced Saddam to the occult.
5. He is among the most hated leaders to have ever existed as he killed scores of his own countrymen using poison-gas.
6. Conducting genocide was not his only crime for was an invader to Iran and Kuwait who additionally banished scores of Iraqi men and women.
7. He was the first Iraqi man to be awarded keys to Detroit. A prestigious honor, he got the keys to the city in 1980 when he made a fine monetary contribution to a local church.
8. Quite the pious man, he decided to make a change in the nation’s flag in 1991. His version of the flag sported the Takbir written in Hussein’s hand that is interpreted as Allah is great.
9. The man who believed in making death a luxurious experience owned firearms and grenade launchers that were plated with precious metals. His love for gold extended to the AK-47 rifle as well, which was one of his most stunning yet deadly possessions.
10. His mother named him Saddam, meaning “the challenger” in Arabic after her husband left her shortly after she got pregnant with the dictator.
11. He tried numerous times to earn favors from the US by offering 94 million in American currency for the country’s homeless.
12. He may have been a terrible leader, but the UNESCO saw good in him for a fleeting moment and awarded him for bettering the living conditions of Iraqis. He built educational institutions where schooling was free to ensure literacy. He also offered low cost medicines to farmers, soldiers and their families, which was a first for the country.
13. Even this hateful leader sought to avert war. He suggested an open discussion with then US President George W Bush to be aired on live TV that was never taken up.
14. Although he was a part of the murder plot against Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Karim Kassem, he allegedly foiled it on purpose by precipitate firing, letting the politician escape with merely a scrape.
15. This man was far from all brawn and no brain for he was a lawyer who studied from the University of Baghdad. Even though his initial stint at law school saw him dropping out in ‘57, he later pursued his lessons at a law school in Cairo. After coming back to his homeland he went to jail for a short spell, but still managed to attain his degree post his release.

Saddam’s long reign in Iraq saw him commit innumerable atrocities that earned him the hatred of his fellow countrymen, yet these facts prove that he was a man of above average intelligence.