Saddam Hussein president of Iraq from 1979-2003, Ṣaddām Ḥussein, also spelled Ṣaddām Ḥusayn, in full Ṣaddām Ḥussein al-Tikrītī (born April 28, 1937, Tikrīt, Iraq—died Dec. 30, 2006, Baghdad), president of Iraq (1979–2003), whose brutal rule was marked by costly and unsuccessful wars against neighbouring countries.
Early life
Ṣaddām was born into a peasant family in northern Iraq. He joined the Baʿth Party in 1957. In 1959 he participated in an unsuccessful attempt by Baʿthists to assassinate the Iraqi prime minister, ʿAbd al-Karīm Qāsim; Ṣaddām was wounded in the attempt and escaped first to Syria and then to Egypt. He attended Cairo Law School (1962–63) and continued his studies at Baghdad Law College after the Baʿthists took power in Iraq in 1963.
The Baʿthists were overthrown that same year, however, and Ṣaddām spent several years in prison in Iraq. He escaped, becoming a leader of the Baʿth Party, and was instrumental in the coup that brought the party back to power in 1968. Ṣaddām effectively held power in Iraq along with the head of state, Pres. Aḥmad Ḥasan al-Bakr, and in 1972 he directed the nationalization of Iraq’s oil industry.
