Saddam in power

 
Sadam captured

Saddam Hussein- Saddam was born April 28, 1937 in Tikrt, Iraq to a peasant family in northern Iraq.  In 1957 he joined the Ba’th Party and in 1959 he participated in an unsuccessful attempt by the Ba’thists in an assassination attempt on the Iraqi prime minster, ‘Abd al-Karm Qsim.  He attended Cairo Law School from 1962 until 1963.

Time Line of Events Leading Up to His Death-

• October 7, 1959:  Saddam participates with a Baath team that ambushes Iraqi strongman Abdel-Karim Kassem in Baghdad.  Saddam receives a wound to leg and decides to flee the country.
• February 8, 1963:  Saddam returns from his stay in Egypt and takes part in a coup that overthrows and kills Kassem.
• July 16, 1979:  He takes over as president of Iraq from al-Bakr.  Saddam then launches a purge of Baath.
• September 22, 1980:  An eight-year war is set up after Saddam sends his army into Iran.
• July 8, 1982:  An assassination attempt is made on Saddam in Dujail.  To retaliate against this attempt Saddam orders his security forces to attack the town of Dujail.
• March 28, 1988:  An estimated 5,000 civilians are killed in the Kurdish town of Halabja after Saddam uses chemical weapons on the town.
• August 2, 1990:  He invades Kuwait which leads to a war with an U.S.-led coalition that liberates Kuwait the following February.
• July 22, 2003: Saddam’s sons Qusai and Odai are killed in a gun battle with U.S. troops.
• December 13, 2003:  The U.S. captures Saddam in Tikrit.
• June 30, 2004:  He is transferred into Iraqi custody.
• July 1, 2004:  Saddam is arraigned before a judge and is charged with war crimes and genocide.
• July 13, 2005:  He faces first charges against him as a tribunal judges that the investigation into the Dujail killings are complete.
• October 19, 2005:  He pleads innocent as his trial opens in the Dujail case.
• October 20, 2005:  One of Saddam’s defense attorneys is kidnapped and killed.
• December 7, 2005:  Saddam refuses to enter into the court room.  The night before he tells the tribunal to “go to hell”.  The judge decides to continue his case without him.
• December 29, 2005:  Saddam’s chief lawyer sends a letter to then President Bush stating the Saddam should be freed if the U.S. wants to end its problems in Iraq.
• November 5, 2006:  Saddam is sentenced to death by hanging.
• December 26, 2006:  Saddam’s appeal is rejected and his death sentence is upheld.
• December 30, 2006: Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging.

Saddam Hussein in Court 

 TRANSCRIPT OF SADDAM IN COURT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5345118/

 
VIDEO OF SADDAM HUSSEIN’S HANGING

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7532034279766935521#

Additional Links-

http://www.biography.com/articles/Saddam-Hussein-9347918

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,239879,00.html