 The division between Shia and Sunni dates back to the

death of the Prophet Muhammad, and the question of who

was to take over the leadership of the Muslim nation. Sunni
Muslims agree with the position taken by many of the
Prophet's companions, that the new leader should be
elected from among those capable of the job. This is what
was done, and the Prophet Muhammad's close friend and
advisor, Abu Bakr, became the first Caliph of the Islamic
nation. The word "Sunni" in Arabic comes from a word
meaning "one who follows the traditions of the Prophet."On
the other hand, some Muslims share the belief that
leadership should have stayed within the Prophet's own
family, among those specifically appointed by him, or
among Imams appointed by God Himself.
 The Shia Muslims believe that following the Prophet
Muhammad's death, leadership should have passed
directly to his cousin/son-in-law, Ali bin Abu Talib.
Throughout history, Shia Muslims have not
recognized the authority of elected Muslim leaders,
choosing instead to follow a line of Imams which
they believe have been appointed by the Prophet
Muhammad or God Himself.
 The word "Shia" in Arabic means a group or
supportive party of people. The commonly-known
term is shortened from the historical "Shia-t-Ali," or
"the Party of Ali." They are also known as followers
of "Ahl-al-Bayt" or "People of the Household" (of the
Prophet).
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5
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 Hashemite monarchy ruled from 1932-58
 Hashemite monarchy overthrown in 1958 by
Karim Qassem.
 Saddam was born into a Sunni family on April
28,1937 in al-Awja near Tikrit, Iraq. His father
passed away while his mother was pregnant with
him.
 He was born into a poor family, and had to steal so
his family could eat (eggs and chicken).
 Age of 18 moved to Baghdad.
 Attended College in Cairo.
 He lived with his uncle Khairallah Tulfah until the age
of three and when he returned to his parents he was
mistreated and he decided to go back to live with his
uncle in Baghdad.
 Saddam spent 6 months in jail for killing his brother in
law, at the age of 10 during a family argument.
 Meanwhile, in Egypt, Colonel Nasser seized power in
Egypt, in 1952, overthrowing the corrupt King Faruq,
who was a puppet in the hands of the French and
British governments. He humiliated the colonial
powers with the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956. This
inspired the Arab Nationalist Movement across the
Middle East.
 Saddam joined the Baath Party and in 1956 he played a
role in an abortive coup attempt.
 By the age of 19, he was politically active, supporting Arab
Nationalist Movement . During this time, Saddam
supported himself by working as a Secondary school
teacher.
 Faisal II of Iraq was assassinated in a military coup led by
General Qasim in July 1958. King Faisal had been despised
as a corrupt stooge of the West. in Iraq was overthrown.
 Ba'athists seized power in Iraq for the first time in 1963, but
were deposed several months later. The party's regional
organisation governed Iraq between 1968 and 2003, for
many years under the leadership of Saddam Hussein.
 Khairallah Tulfah was an Iraqi Ba'ath Party official, and the
maternal uncle and father-in-law of Saddam Hussein.
 Soon Qasim lost popularity by refusing to join Nasser’s
United Arab Republic, and even allied himself with the
Iraqi Communist Party that openly opposed Nasser’s
ambitions.
 Nasser planned the assassination of Qasim with the
Iraqi Baath Party. At the age of 22, he attempted , with
another accomplice, to kill the Prime Minister Qasim,
as he drove past in a car. However, Qasim was only
injured.
 Saddam was shot in the leg during the attempt, and
fled to Syria and Egypt. In Egypt, he attended law
school.
 He married his cousin, Sajida, Khairallah Tulfah’s
daughter.
 Qasim was assassinated in February 1963 by Iraqi army
officers who installed the Baath Party into power. The
assassination was known as the Ramadan Revolution.
Saddam immediately returned to Iraq and joined the
leaders in adopting terror as a tool of government.
 Over the next few months Iraqis turned the Iraqi
royal palace into a torture chamber for their
enemies. Some prisoners who survived testified
later that they had been questioned and tortured
by Saddam himself.
 In 1964, less than ayear after gaining power, the
Baath party lost power, and Hussein wwent into
hiding, but was captured and thrown in prison.
There he became convinced that to regain power,
the Baathists would have to build their own
security force within the party so that the support
of the military would become unnecessary. When
Saddam managed to escape after 2 years, and
rejoined the party, at first, he was given a minor
job in the Central Farmer’s Office to work on
improving the position of the peasantry.
 He soon became vice Chairman of the Revolutionary
Command Council. In February 1964, he became a
member of the Regional Command. He soon became the
security organiser of the Baath Party. He created a large
force that used violence to terrify citizens and remove
rival political leaders.
 Through the years, he became Vice President and
Deputy Secretary General of the Baath party’s regional
command.
 In 1968, The Baath Party seized power and Saddam‘s
older cousin Ahmed Al- Bakr became the President of
Iraq.
 By controlling the security forces, Saddam became not
only the most powerful man in the government, but
also its most feared and respected leader. He used
secret-police establishment to dismiss any internal
opposition to his rule, and he made himself the object of
an extensive personality cult among the Iraqi public.
 For e.g., in January 1969, 17 foreign journalists were
convicted of being spies for Israel. They were publicly
executed in Liberation Square in Baghdad.
 In 1972, as the Vice Chairman, he oversaw
nationalization of the oil industry. A year later, world
oil prices rose dramatically as a result of the 1973 oil
crisis and skyrocketing revenues enabled Saddam to
launch massive social reforms in Iraq.
 He advocated a national infrastructure campaign that
built roads, schools, and hospitals. There was free health
care for everyone.
 He ordered a mandatory free literacy program, and
those who didn’t participate risked three years in jail,
but 1,000’s learned to read.
 Iraq at this time, created one of the best public health
systems in the middle east. This earned him an award
from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization.
 He also served in the Iraqi armed forces as a Lieutenant
General from 1973 until 1976, when he was promoted
to General. This increased his power even further.
 He put news papers on his payroll, and they praised
him as the defender of the Arab world against the
influence of Judaism.
 His goals were to gain power over Iraq as leader of the
Arab world and to achieve control over the Persian
Gulf.
 Despite the Baathist government’s brutal
reputation, and its disregards for human rights,
the Baath government in Iraq still enjoyed the
support of the US and its allies. This was
because of the Cold War, where both the US
and the USSR wanted control of the oil
supplies of the Middle East, and thus the USA
found it useful that the Baath Party was
staunchly anti-communist.
 Within the Arab world too, Saddam’s
reputation was on the rise. The defeat of Egypt
with Israel in 1967 and the death of Naseer in
1970 left the way open for Saddam for a new
man to present himself as the leader of the
Arab world.
 Saddam made Khairallah Talfah Mayor of Baghdad, in the
early 1970s but was forced to remove him due to Talfah's
corruption.
 In 1979, al-Bakr, alarmed at Saddam’s growing power,
proposed a treaty with Syria which would have diluted
Saddam’s power base.
 Saddam quickly acted by forcing al-Bakr to resign for health
reasons and gained open control of the government in 1979.
 Saddam immediately called for a meeting of the party
leadership. In front of cameras, he claimed to have uncoverd
a plot to have him assassinated. He read out names of 68
alleged conspirators, each of whom was arrested, , found
guilty of treason and 22 were executed. His rise to power
was now complete.