Saddam Hussein history

Saddam Hussein (1937-2006)

Saddam began his political career seeing himself as a social revolutionary and a modernizer, similar to Egypt's secular leader Gamul Abdul Nasser, and with a touch of Stalin, whose power he apparently admired. But he was a Baathist, and Baathists were socialists of a sort who opposed and crushed Communist movements. Baathists were Pan Arab socialists, or national socialists. Nasser was a Pan Arab. Hussein less so, taking power to avoid unity with Syria's Baathists, which would have meant a loss of power for him. Like Mussolini and his ally, another National Socialist (Nazi), Hussein put his own power above all else.
Islamic conservatives had disliked Nasser secularism, and they disliked Hussein's. Saddam's government offered women more freedoms that conservatives liked, and he offered them high-level government and industry jobs. Saddam created a Western-style legal system, making Iraq the only country in the Persian Gulf region not ruled according to traditional Islamic law (Sharia). Saddam abolished the Sharia law courts, except for personal injury.
Saddam Hussein went to war against Iran, a war that lasted eight years. It was not a war he had to fight, and his war bankrupted his country. Then, to pay the country's debts and acquire more wealth, he acted on an old Iraqi claim to oil rich Kuwait. He conquered Kuwait. This was followed by a war between Iraq and a coalition of nations, including the United States. He was driven from Kuwait and many died, but appearances were important to him, and he presented it to the Iraqi people as a victory. The war ended with his agreeing to conditions set by the United Nations, among which was the destruction of certain kinds of weapons. Apparently he destroyed those weapons, but rather than do it with United Nations observers he did it surreptitiously. He did not want his old enemy Iran to see him militarily weak. He failed to choose well between unpleasant alternatives. He chose to continue his posturing of military strength vis-à-vis Iran. He choose not to rely on membership in a community of nations for defense against Iran's military.
Saddam Hussein believed that brutality was a necessary ingredient in the exercise of political power. He made vehement enemies and to survive he had to keep his enemies in mind. That was the way of those who were politically authoritarian and who wanted more than agreement with other nations - like the fascists of 1918-19, who despised internationalism. Saddam took his enemy-think with him to his death. He went to his death cursing his old enemy Iran, cursing "traitors" and the power foremost responsible for his demise: the United States.
A bad gambler is overly optimistic and poor at evaluating opportunities. Saddam had been overly optimistic and insufficient in his calculations, beginning with his war against Iran, including his claim that he would be in Teheran in three days. He miscalculated too in believing that the world would let him expand into Kuwait. He used his power with naiveté. But he still has some who see him as a hero, and we can expect them to see Saddam as he saw himself: not as a fool but as a victim