Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein al-Majid (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi revolutionary and politician who served as president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003. He played an important role in the 17 July Revolution which brought the Ba'ath Party to power, serving as vice president under Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr until 1979 when he assumed the presidency. He ordered a purge of the Ba'ath Party, consolidating his position as a dictator. His invasions of Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990 led to global retaliation, with the formation of the US–led coalition during the Gulf War and the US–led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Saddam was charged with crimes against humanity in 2005 and sentenced to death in 2006. The set of policies which took shape under his regime is known as Saddamism.

Born near the city of Tikrit to a Sunni Arab family, Saddam joined the revolutionary Ba'ath Party in 1957. He played a key role in the 17 July Revolution that brought the Ba'athists to power in Iraq and made him vice president under Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. During his tenure as vice president, Saddam nationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company, diversified the economy, introduced free healthcare and education, and supported women's rights. He also presided over the defeat of the Kurdish insurgency in the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War and signed the Algiers Agreement with Iran in 1975, thereby settling territorial disputes along the Iran–Iraq border. Following al-Bakr's resignation in 1979, Saddam formally took power. During his presidency, positions of power in the country were mostly filled with Sunni Arabs, a minority that made up only about a fifth of the Iraqi population.