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Nandini Khandelwal
28 July 2024 |
On 16 July 1979, Saddam Hussein became the President of Iraq, leaving a deep impact on regional and global politics during his rule until2003. He became the President after Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr resigned due to internal Ba'ath party pressure and the latter's declining health. He is known as a courageous moderniser yet known for his authoritarianism, and state control.
The Rise of Saddam
Saddam Hussein, born with a turbulent childhood in 1937. He was influenced by Ba'athism philosophy, which advocates for pan-Arabism and the enlightenment of Arabs through a modern unified Arab socialist state. Also inspired by the Western notion of socialism, his ideology differed from the ultra-Islamists and communists as the former could promote the sectarianism between Shias and Sunnis, and the latter could lead towards atheism to the destruction of Arab unity, thus emphasising the renaissance of the Islamic culture as a national heritage rather than only theology. This came to be known as ‘Saddamism’ after he took power since he strategically used religion as an instrument to preserve his regime.
His leadership had two major objectives. One, lessen Egypt's standing as the leader of the Arab world. Despite being influenced by Gamel Abdel Nasser, he turned against Egypt with the new presidency of Anwar Saddat under whose regime, the rapprochement with Israel happened in 1979, given the animosity between Iraq and Israel. Second, promote regional stability from an anti-western stance, making Iraq the only legitimate leader of the Persian Gulf.
Three major events before Hussein became president contributed to the strengthening of his nationalist worldview. The first is the 1968 coup, also known as the 17 July Revolution. He was a key player in the planning and execution of a successful coup against the then-President Abdul Rahman Arif as well as Prime Minister Tahir Yahya, belonging to the Arab Socialist Union. Following the coup, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party's Iraqi Regional branch came to power, and Hussein advanced to the position of vice president under President Hasan al-Bakr.
The second event that shaped Hussein's anti-Western stance in the Iraqi economy was the nationalisation of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) in 1972. It was the outcome of growing disagreements between the Iraqi government, and the shareholders of IPC, including the US, UK, France, and the Netherlands, which operated in northern Iraq. The relationship between the Iraqi government and the stakeholders also reached an all-time low as a result of the sharp decline in oil production from the northern areas. As a result, in response to mounting pressure from Iraq’s populace, the government decided to nationalise the oil company and renamed it as Iraq National Oil Company (INOC). This further accentuated the Cold War since INOC began relying upon the Soviet Union for marketing its nationalised oil. However, the latter could make only modest purchases since it couldn’t displace its oil with the Iraqi in its foreign trade with other countries.
The third event was the Iraq-Kurdish War. Since the first war ended in a standoff, the Kurds living in northern Iraq had been the target of animosity from the Iraqi government. The government reversed its decision of a fictitious promise of a peace plan in 1970 but later launched a fresh uprising against the Kurds by 1974. Additionally, Iraq and Iran negotiated a deal known as the Algiers Agreement signed in 1975, which forbade Iran from sending Kurds to Iraq in exchange for Iraq transferring to Iran a piece of territory that was half the width of Shatt-al Arab. Relocating the Arab population to the north of Iraq, fulfilled Iraq's goal of reducing aid for the Kurds and initiating the Arabisation program.
Iraq: Saddam and after
Saddam Hussein strategically used the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), particularly in the wake of Iran’s Islamic revolution, which was viewed with caution by both regional and global powers. As a result, Iraq received the most advanced armament equipment to combat Iran, notwithstanding the war ending in a stalemate. Though autocratic and suspected of numerous human rights violations, Hussein's secular rule in Iraq was regarded as more stabilising than Iran's Islamic regime. For instance, the US removed Iraq from the list of nations supporting terrorism in 1982 and resumed its diplomatic relations in 1984 after having been severed during the 1967 war with Israel. Despite this, cautious optimism was expressed regarding the nation's prospects.
The Gulf War (1990–91) turned against Saddam. He invaded Kuwait, claiming it of diverting crude oil from an oil field near their shared border. As retaliation, he asked that Iraq's $30 billion foreign debt be cancelled. He claimed that Kuwait was a fabricated state established by Western colonialists. He attempted to leverage Iraq’s position by turning it into an issue against Israel, making the latter's removal from the occupied territories a prerequisite for the former’s departure from Kuwait. This could lead to Arab unity to Iraq's advantage. However, Israel did not take part in the war. Following the US-led coalition's Operation Desert Storm, which involved 35 countries, Iraq acknowledged Kuwait's sovereignty and eventually had to withdraw.
The 2003 Iraq War served as the final straw that forced the world to bring down Saddam Hussein. He was left in charge of the nation following his defeat in the Gulf War, subject to several sanctions. These included the imposition of inspections for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), and the creation of a no-fly zone shortly following the hostilities, primarily to protect the Kurds in the north and the Shiites in the south. On the contrary—his antipathy against the Kurds intensified. Ultimately, in 2003, the Bush administration in the US issued a dire warning to Hussein, requiring him to resign within 48 hours. Upon rejection by Hussein, the US launched operation Iraqi Freedom and invaded Iraq without the UN sanction on the grounds of suspicion of WMDs, and on 13 December, they seized Hussein.
On 30 December 2006, he was put to death.
About the author
Nandini Khandelwal is a postgraduate student at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Pondicherry University.
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