The Rise and Fall of Saddam Hussein
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 5 April 2023
⏱️ 42 minutes
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Summary
Perhaps one of the best-known modern dictators, Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq for nearly 30 years before eventually being overthrown in 2003 by the US Coalition. Known for his authoritarian rule, the use of chemical weapons against his own people, and multiple invasions of neighbouring countries - Saddam Hussein's legacy is a dark one. But how did he become President of Iraq in 1979, and what did the Iraqi people really think of him?
In the latest episode of our Iraq mini-series, reflecting on 20 years since the invasion of the country, James is joined by Dr Afzal Ashraf to examine just who Saddam Hussein was. Looking at the effect British Colonialism had on his early political career, the relationship between Iraq and the United States, and how lasting Cold War tensions defined this period - how did Saddam Hussein hold onto power for so long, and just who was helping him?
The senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. The Assistant Producer was Annie Coloe. Edited by Annie Coloe.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone welcome back to the History Hit Warfare podcast. I'm your host James |
| 0:04.6 | Patton Rogers. This episode is part of our special series on the Iraq War, marking 20 |
| 0:09.9 | years since the start of the war itself. To cover the rise and fall of Saddam who |
| 0:16.1 | sane, we have brought in an old friend of the podcast, Dr. Affi Ashraf. Now Affi |
| 0:22.7 | was in the Royal Air Force during the Iraq War and he was actually based out of |
| 0:27.9 | Saddam's presidential palace once it had been taken over by Allied forces |
| 0:32.2 | between 2004 and 2005 and what Affi provides us is the geopolitics of a |
| 0:38.8 | wreck and how this made the leader the dictator that was Saddam Hussein. |
| 0:51.6 | Affi I don't know too much about Saddam Hussein really keen to learn more. One |
| 0:56.4 | thing I do know is that he was born into poverty and that his father died I think |
| 1:03.1 | not long after he was born he died when he was he was very young right? Well in |
| 1:07.6 | fact he died before he was born and you're absolutely right he was born on 28th |
| 1:13.4 | of April 1937 in a village near Tukrit and that was one of the poorest readers of |
| 1:20.9 | the country but it was a tribal society with strict violent codes as most |
| 1:27.7 | tribal societies had you know those codes were violent only to the |
| 1:33.3 | disloyal even though he was born in poverty without a father he was brought up |
| 1:38.6 | in Baghdad by an uncle who put him through some basic education obviously looked |
| 1:44.7 | after him and paid for him and so on so it's one of those very difficult |
| 1:50.6 | situations but very typical situations and it's worth remembering that at that |
| 1:56.5 | time it was virtually no infrastructure in that country and that's really |
| 2:02.8 | worth bearing in mind because all of these things shape this man when he comes to |
| 2:08.7 | power in a way that I think is very surprising to most of us in the West because |
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