Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (1937- ), authoritarian president of Iraq since 1979) who has led his country into two devastating wars. Born to a poor farming family in Tikrît, a town north of Baghdâd, Hussein was raised by his widowed mother and other relatives. He moved to Baghdâd in 1955 and became involved in politics, joining the opposition Baath Party, an Arab nationalist movement. Hussein rose quickly within the party and in 1959 helped organize an …showed first 75 words of 457 total…

…showed last 75 words of 457 total…fundamentalists and their supporters, and Hussein feared radical Islamic ideas were spreading inside Iraq, especially among the country’s majority Shiite population. In September 1980 Hussein abandoned his 1975 agreement with Iran and invaded. After making some initial gains Iraq’s troops were stopped, and by 1982 Iraq was looking for ways to end the war. Hussein reached out to other Arab governments for financial and diplomatic support and began to target the Iranian oil industry. Bibliography encarta