Hussein

1 Pages 268 Words

Saddam Hussein took his position as the Head of State of Iraq on July 11th, 1979 after the people had voted to relieve his predecessor, Ahmad Hasan Bakr, due to health reasons. Before he became the Supreme Ruler of Iraq, he held many seats and offices to include Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, Secretary General of the Ba’th Party Regional Command, Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (Karsh 110). With all of these positions that he had held at some point in time, it was no wonder that his popularity was wide spread, but unfortunately, his views and beliefs in which he expected to make known were not. As stated earlier, Hussein’s involvement in the Ba’th Party is no mystery. However, contrary to popular belief, he did not in fact start it. Two Syrian schoolteachers from Damascus established the Ba’th Party in the early 1940’s. Its ideology and agenda is the rise and unification of the Arab world, and to eliminate the traces of colonialism in the Middle East (Karsh 12). The Ba’th Party was secretly established in Iraq by 1950, but did not take control until 1963. This lasted only until a Prime Minister who was not involved in the Ba’th beliefs took office in 1963. Due to the part of high elected political officials and senior military officers, the Ba’th Party once again gained full control over Iraq in 1968 and remained that way until March-April of 2003 where the Ba’th Part and it’s political leadership was destroyed by U- led coalition forces (Orient)....