Saddam Hussein

British  

/ sæˈdæm /

noun

1. See Hussein

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Hussein, Saddam Cultural  

1. Dictator of Iraq who seized power in 1979. With the intent of making Iraq the dominant power in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, Hussein invaded Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990. The latter invasion provoked a military response from the United Nations, led by the United States, which drove Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991. (See Persian Gulf War.)

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Although widely loathed outside the Arab world and feared by most Arab governments, Hussein retains some of his appeal to the Arab masses because of his resolute defiance of the United States and western Europe.

Hussein's cruelty and deviousness have become legendary. He has ruthlessly suppressed both Shi'ite Muslims and Kurds within Iraq; in 1987 and 1988 he authorized poison gas attacks on Kurdish villages.

Example Sentences

After the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, hopes ran high that Iraq’s oil production would get a big boost.

From MarketWatch

The ayatollahs’ rule was shaped by the bloody eight-year war that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq launched in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

From The Wall Street Journal

The U.S. helped topple Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, but both dictators were ultimately killed by their own people.

From The Wall Street Journal

He not only reported on the front-line fighting but also won exclusive, and controversial, interviews with then-President Saddam Hussein and future 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.

From Los Angeles Times

Friends describe Mr. Salih as decidedly moderate—except when it came to resisting the regime of Saddam Hussein.

From The Wall Street Journal