Execution+of+Saddam+Hussein

From July 1979 to 2003, Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq with an iron fist. A controversial leader, he killed many of his own citizens and anyone he saw as a threat along with their children, wife, siblings, parents, and sometimes even cousins. He did not get along with other countries well and would cause fights if he did not get what he wanted from other countries. The Persian Gulf War was started because Hussein decided to attack Kuwait because Kuwait would not sell oil fields to Iraq. He had hoped that the U.S.A would back him, but instead American soldiers invaded Iraq. This war was a main cause for the destruction of the infrastructure of Iraq.

It is believed that Saddam had been hiding nuclear weapons in his country, and so after the United States was terrorized by Hussein's possible ally Al Qaeda, the group responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center, President Bush had reason to wage war in Iraq and search for the weaponry. The invasion of Iraq began March 23rd, 2003. During the War, the U.S directly aimed missiles at Hussein and so Hussein went into hiding. He was not captured until December 13, 2003 when he was found hiding in a hole in Tikrit, Iraq. [|(President Bush Announces Saddam's Capture)] Saddam was tried for the prosecution of 148 Shiite Muslims and over 180,000 other Iraq Kurds of whom he ordered to be extermination. On December 30, 2006 Saddam was executed by hanging in Baghdad. This made change possible in Iraq. Once President Obama took office, he ordered for troops to be removed from Iraq marking the end of direct U.S involvement with Iraq. Iraq was able to hold their own election with hopes of rebuilding their country.