Saddam Hussein's Rule of Terror: Part 1
Only after the smoke had cleared, the troops had surrendered and Baghdad was ours, did the rest of the world realize just how terrifying the rule of Saddam Hussein had been. Sure, there had been some previous insight into what Saddam Hussein had done prior to the invasion such as attacking the Kurdish population with chemical weapons and of course, invading Kuwait but more has since come to light. In this three part series, I will examine some of the most terrifying aspects of the rule of Saddam Hussein. I will touch base on his rule by fear, including his fear of everyone and everything, his victims and how his two sons have played a role in his terror tactics.
Saddam came to power virtually through the "backdoor" creeping and killing his way to the top. Perhaps Saddam's childhood experience turned him into the twisted person that he eventually turned out to be. Born to a mother who didn't want him, Saddam was cared for by his uncle who had a slight penchant for being paranoid and untrusting. He passed these traits on to Saddam and so Saddam carried this "fears" with him throughout his life. Saddam returned to his mother after she remarried, and was subsequently beaten and taught to steal by his stepfather. Saddam was constantly in danger of going to jail as he grew older and was making a bad name for himself in his hometown of Tikrit.
Later on, Saddam joined the Ba'ath Party and began his rise to power. He started off as a "hit man" eliminating anyone who got in the way of the Ba'ath parties success and his own. Hussein was also involved in an ill-fated coup attempt in which he was shot and later escaped capture. Some years later Saddam found himself climbing almost completely to the top of the ladder of power in Iraq landing right behind President Bakr, which is where he began the clandestine efforts to undermine his enemies and insure his own political survival. With so much power in his hands, Saddam began to create a security apparatus that would enable him to undermine anyone who was plotting against the government or himself. This security system, which was actually three separate security apparatus, was designed so that one part could keep check of the other two parts and so on. These security services were created to carry out the wishes of Saddam Hussein in a brutal and torturous fashion.
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