Saddam Hussain

Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (Arabic: صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was the President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutionary Baath Party, which espoused a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup that brought the party to long-term power.
As vice president under the ailing General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, and at a time when many groups were considered capable of overthrowing the government, Saddam created security forces through which he tightly controlled conflict between the government and the armed forces. In the early 1970s, Saddam nationalized oil and other industries. The state-owned banks were put under his thumb, leaving the system eventually insolvent. Through the 1970s, Saddam cemented his authority over the apparatuses of government as oil money helped Iraq's economy to grow at a rapid pace. Positions of power in the country were filled with Sunnis, a minority that made only a fifth of the population.
Saddam killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and crushed Shi'a and Kurdish opposition movements. The terror included air force and chemical weapon attacks against entire towns and villages. Saddam maintained power during the Iran–Iraq War of 1980 through 1988. In 1990 he invaded and looted Kuwait. An international coalition came to free Kuwait in the Persian Gulf War of 1991, but didn't end Saddam's rule. Whereas some venerated him for his aggressive stance against Israel, including firing missiles at Israel, he was widely condemned for brutality of his dictatorship.
In March 2003 March, a coalition of countries led by the US and UK invaded Iraq to depose Saddam, controversially citing Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and terror links. Saddam's Baath party was disbanded and the nation transitioned to a democratic system. Captured on 13 December 2003, Saddam was brought to trial under the Iraqi interim government. On 5 November 2006, he was convicted of charges related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shiites and was sentenced to death by hanging. Saddam was executed on 30 December 2006. By the time of his death, a number of books had been published under his name, though his actual contribution was questionable, including multiple novels.