Concept

Saddam Hussein

Summary
'Saddam Husseinefn|sʌˈdɑ:m huːˈseɪn; صدام حسين, sʕɐdˈdɑːm ɜħsɪe̯n;efn|Saddam, pronounced sʕɑdˈdæːm, is his personal name, and means the stubborn one or he who confronts in Arabic. Hussein (sometimes also transliterated as Hussayn or Hussain') is not a surname in the Western sense, but a patronymic, his father's given personal name; Abid al-Majid his grandfather's; al-Tikriti means he was born and raised in (or near) Tikrit. He was commonly referred to as Saddam Hussein, or Saddam for short. The observation that referring to the deposed Iraqi president as only Saddam is derogatory or inappropriate may be based on the assumption that Hussein is a family name: thus, The New York Times refers to him as "Mr. Hussein", while Encyclopædia Britannica uses just Saddam. A full discussion can be found here. (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006), also known mononymously as Saddam, was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who was the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. He also served as prime minister of Iraq, first from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organization, the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, which espoused Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism. Saddam was born in Al-Awja, near Tikrit, to a prominent Sunni Muslim family. He joined the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in 1957, and the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party, and its regional organization, the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. He played a key role in the 17 July Revolution and was appointed vice president by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. During his time as vice president, Saddam nationalised the Iraq Petroleum Company, diversifying the Iraqi economy. He presided over the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War (1974–1975). Following al-Bakr's resignation in 1979, Saddam formally took power, although he had already been the de facto head of Iraq for several years. Positions of power in the country were mostly filled with Sunni Arabs, a minority that made up only a fifth of the population.
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