Saddam Hussein

The known actions of Saddam Hussein during his thirty-year plus reign demanded the attention of the world. Saddam Hussein research papers show the following:

1. During Saddam Hussein's time as the leader of Iraq he slaughtered thousands, imprisoned many more, and systematically prevented Iraqi citizens from enjoying any measure of freedom.
2. He has threatened neighboring countries
3. Refused to comply with U.N. mandates
4. Decorated his palaces at the expense of food and water for his people

Write a term paper on Saddam Hussein that overviews his political policies and how his reign led to the War in Iraq.

Saddam's Crimes Against Humanity

Saddam's crimes against humanity are recorded in recent history. In 1988, he ordered the genocide of thousands of Kurds. His soldiers carried out the order using both conventional and chemical weapons. His ideas of "just" punishment include feeding those who oppose him to packs of hungry dogs, forcing individuals to watch the execution of family members, killing members of his own cabinet who fail to give him the "correct" answer, and torturing and imprisoning those who speak out against the regime.

Saddam's Recent History

On August 2, 1990, Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, invaded the state of Kuwait in the Persian Gulf. Exactly a decade earlier, in September of 1980, Iraq went to war against Iran. The prevailing notion had always been that the genesis of these wars was in Saddam Hussein's violent, megalomaniac character. Indeed, Hussein's regime had been one of terror, claiming millions of lives and undertaking acts of cruelty both against foreigners as well as against his own people. But although Saddam's cruelty was brought to bear against his victims and their supporters during the course of both these wars, Hussein did not embark on these military campaigns because he is "bad," "evil" or "cruel." Rather, he had embarked on them in order to protect his regime. At the end of the day, it is the goal of a leader to stay in power; in third world, dictatorial regimes such as Hussein's Iraq was, this goal only becomes more manifest.

Many alternative explanations have been suggested to support the notion that Saddam had gone to war only because he is the very manifestation of evil. These include explanations that position Saddam as having exploited offensive realism and economic crisis in order to support his warring cause.

And, there is no contention that Saddam was cruel, and that he ruled with fear as his weapon. Saddam had been leading a campaign of genocide against the Kurds of the North for many years. He had built up a Gestapo-like organization known as the "Fedayeen" to spy and report on his own military commanders and government officials.And stories of his atrocities across the Middle East abound - from executions of Shia' fundamentalists in the cities of Najaf and Karbala in 1980, to vigilante-like executions of Egyptians upon the return of Iraqi soldiers to their farms following the Iran-Iraq war, to the use of biological weapons to subdue the Iranians, as well as the use of chemical weapons in Iraq's war against the United States in 1990-1991.