Saddam Hussein was a President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. He was the leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party. He is known as a Middle Eastern dictator. Some, however, believe he was a revolutionary and tried to counter American influence on oil prices and the Middle East.
He was overthrow and capture by a US-led coalition in 2003. He was sentenced to death by hanging, after being convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the murder of 148 Iraqi Shi’ites in the town of Dujail in 1982.
Saddam was the one who started the Persian Gulf War in 1990. He insisted that Kuwait and Saudi Arabia conspire to keep oil prices low in an effort to pander to Western oil-buying nations. He broke off negotiations with the two countries and ordered the invasion of Kuwait on August 2.
