Biography of President Saddam Hussein, President of the Republic of Iraq

Biography of President Saddam Hussein,
President of the Republic of Iraq

Personal:

• Born on April 28, 1937, in Tikrit, the seat of the Saladdin Province where he finished

his primary school.

• Married with five children: two boys and three girls.

Academic:

• Escaped to Syria and thence to Egypt where he completed his secondary school

studies in 1962.

• Admitted into the College of Law in Cairo and attended in the period 1962-1963.

• Having completed his third and fourth year of studies, following the July 17th

Revolution, he obtained a graduate degree from the College of Law.

• On February 1, 1976, he was awarded a Master of Art Honors Degree in Military

Science together with the Staff Degree.

• In 1984, the University of Baghdad awarded him Honorary Doctorate in Law.

Political Career:

• Joined the Arab Baath Socialist Party (A.B.S.P) in 1956

• Arrested and imprisoned for six months, while he was a secondary school student,

over the years 1958 and 1959 for his political activities against the regime at the

time. He took part in the revolutionary operation against the dictator Abdul-

Karim Qassim who was Prime Minister in 1959. The operation resulted in the

dictator receiving several shots. Saddam Hussein was wounded in the leg as a

result a shot fired from a bodyguard.

• Sentenced to death in absentia on February 25, 1960.

• Returned to Iraq after the 14th of Ramadhan Revolution (February 8) 1963.

• Discontinued his studies at the college, when in 1963 he had to return to Baghdad to

lead the revolutionary struggle against the reactionary draconian regime that

had previously toppled the Baath Government.

• He was not spared by the round-up campaign waged by the authorities that began on

September 4, 1964. He was arrested on October 14, 1963, with charges relating

to his leadership of the Baath Party's struggle against the backward regime.

• While he was under arrest, he completed and passed his first year studies at the

College of Law.

• Elected as member of the Baath Party's Pan-Arab National Leadership in 1965 while

still under arrest.

• In September 1966, he was elected Deputy-Secretary General of the Baath Party

Leadership in Iraq.

• Escaped from prison in 1967, to resume the leadership of the Baath Party struggle. He

was once again obliged to discontinue his studies because he was chased by the

secret police.

• On July 17,1968, mounting the first tank that besieged the headquarter (the

Presidential Palace) of the head of the regime, he led a group of Party members

that forced their way into the palace in order to overthrow the reactionary

regime. Saddam Hussein played a leading and key role in planning and then

carrying out the Revolution that day.

• On July 30, 1968, he was personally in charge of a swift operation to purge the new

government of the July 17 Revolution of certain of the old regime's figures, who

for purely tactical reasons, cooperated with the Baath Party revolutionaries.

• He all but officially undertook the role of Vice-Chairman of the Revolutionary

Command Council as early as July 1968; but was constitutionally elected for the

post of Vice-Chairman on November 9, 1969.

• On June 1, 1972, he led the process of nationalizing Western oil companies that had

the monopoly of Iraq's oil.

• On July 1, 1974, he was dubbed the rank of Lieutenant General and awarded the

Rafidain Order, First Class (of Military type).

• He played a principle role in formulating and implementing the Autonomy Law for

the Kurdish citizens on March 11, 1974.

• On October 8, 1977, he was elected Assistant Secretary General of the National Pan-

Arab Leadership of the Baath Party.

Presidential Career:

• On July 16, 1979, he was elected Secretary General of the Regional Leadership of the

Baath Party in Iraq, Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, and

President of the Republic of Iraq.

• On July 17, 1979, President Saddam Hussein was promoted to the rank of Field

Marshal.

• On October 8, 1979, he was elected Deputy Secretary General of the National Pan-

Arab Leadership of the Baath Party.

• On September 4, 1980, President Saddam Hussein led the Iraqi people and the Army

wisely and bravely against the aggression initiated and launched against Iraq by

Ayatollah Khomeini's regime. The war ended in Iraq's great victory on August

8, 1988.

• On July 30, 1983, he was dubbed the Revolution Order First Class.

• On April 28, 1988, he was dubbed the Order of the people.

• President Saddam Hussein actively led the modernization of the Iraq economy, urging

the construction of various developed industries and following their

administration and execution. He also supervised the modernization of Iraq's

countryside, the mechanization of agriculture, and the distribution of land to

farmers. He effected a comprehensive revolution in energy industries as well as

in public services such as transportation and education. He also initiated and led

the National Campaign for the Eradication of Illiteracy and the implementation

of Compulsory and Free Education in Iraq.

• Led his country in confronting the aggression launched by 33 countries led by the US

that waged war against Iraq. The Iraqis' confrontation that is called by Arabs

and Iraqis 'The Mother of all Battles' (Um Al-Maarik), is where Iraq stood

strong against the invasion, maintaining its sovereignty and political system.