President of Iraq / Commander-in-Chief
"He who cannot control himself, cannot control others."
Saddam Hussein rose from a village near Tikrit to absolute power in Iraq through assassination, torture, and ruthless political cunning. He joined the Baath Party as a teenager, participated in a failed assassination attempt against Prime Minister Qasim, and fled to Cairo. He returned after a Baath coup, became the regime's chief enforcer, and seized the presidency in 1979 in a coup within the coup — forcing his party colleagues to denounce each other at gunpoint before having 22 of them taken out and shot. His decision to invade Iran in 1980 was his greatest strategic blunder: he expected a quick victory over revolutionary chaos and got eight years of grinding war. He used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and Kurdish civilians, killing thousands. Driven by fear of Iranian-inspired Shia revolution and subsidized by Gulf Arab states, he survived the war deeply in debt — which led directly to the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Did you know?
Saddam appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1990 and was the subject of a gushing profile. He was also reportedly a fan of the movie 'The Godfather' and read it as a manual for leadership. He had a novel, 'Zabibah and the King,' published under his name in 2000.
September 22, 1980 · 10,000 total casualties
Saddam's gamble that revolutionary Iran would crumble was a catastrophic miscalculation. Iran's military, though weakened by purges, was stiffened by revolutionary ideology and the fact that Iranians were defending their homeland. The failure to achieve a quick victory committed Iraq to a war it could not win cheaply — and would ultimately drag on for eight devastating years.
September 22 – November 10, 1980 · 14,000 total casualties
Khorramshahr showed the world what the Iran-Iraq War would be: brutal, close-quarters, and grinding. The city's eventual recapture by Iran in 1982 became Iran's most celebrated military achievement and a propaganda triumph for the Islamic Republic. The battle's ferocity became a template for the entire eight-year war.
February 9–26, 1986 · 30,000 total casualties
The capture of Faw represented Iran's high-water mark in the war. Iran now controlled Iraqi territory and had a potential path to Basra. The threat caused Iraq to dramatically escalate its use of chemical weapons and the US to increase its support for Iraq. Faw was also the operation that proved Human Wave tactics could be replaced by more sophisticated combined-arms approaches.
April – August 1988 · 40,000 total casualties
Iraq's final offensives ended the war but at the price of massive chemical weapons use. The use of nerve agents at Halabja against Kurdish civilians (5,000 dead) and against Iranian troops constituted war crimes. International condemnation was muted — the US had been tilting toward Iraq for years. Khomeini, faced with defeat, accepted the UN ceasefire in what he called 'more deadly than drinking poison.'
April 28, 1937
🌅 Birth
Born in Al-Awja, near Tikrit
1959–1963
milestone
Fled to Egypt after failed assassination attempt against Qasim
July 1979
milestone
Seized presidency in party purge; had rivals shot
September 1980
⚔️ Battle
Ordered invasion of Iran — began 8-year war
August 1990
⚔️ Battle
Invaded Kuwait — triggered Gulf War and eventual downfall
December 2003
milestone
Captured by US forces hiding in a hole near Tikrit
December 30, 2006
✝️ Death
Executed by hanging in Baghdad