In 2003, the Americans launched the Iraq War, and due to the disparity in strength between the two countries, the Americans occupied Iraq in less than forty days.
Saddam Hussein, then president of Iraq, was arrested, and three years later, the once-dignified hero of a generation regarded by the Iraqi people as a tyrant and dictator was hanged.
However, even though Saddam Hussein has died, the shadow he left on still lingers in the hearts of many Iraqis. In the eyes of the people, Saddam Hussein was a devil, a tyrant who slaughtered the Kurds.
Even Lampsos, who has been with Saddam for 30 years, said when talking about her feelings for Saddam that she loved this man, but when she was with Saddam, she would feel fear from the bottom of her heart.
What did Saddam Hussein do to make the Iraqi people, even those close to him, feel such fear and hatred towards him?
A poor rural boy becomes president of Iraq
Saddam Hussein was born in Iraq in 1937 to a peasant family. In an accident, Saddam's father died before he was born, and his mother could not withstand the blow and considered having an abortion.
Fortunately, Saddam Hussein was born safely, but his mother did not want to take care of him and sent him to his uncle's house.
Saddam was cared for until he was 3 years old by his uncle, who loved him very much. In 1940, when he was 3 years old, Saddam's mother remarried, and his uncle sent him to a new home, and Saddam Hussein was often beaten and scolded by his stepfather, and his mother also looked on coldly.
This unhappy childhood created Saddam's withdrawn, cold and sensitive personality. In 1945, at the age of 8, Saddam Hussein secretly left his stepfather's house and returned to his uncle.
In 1955, at the age of 18, Saddam Hussein went to the capital Baghdad to work hard. One year later, he joined the Iraqi Social Renewal Party. At that time, the PRS was a small and inconspicuous party whose goal was to create a single, strong Arab state and revival Arab majesty.
From July 1968, Saddam's Baath Party successfully took power, and Saddam Hussein became the second-in-command in Iraq and the real ruler.
In 1973, Israel's war with Syria and Egypt broke out. Although Iraq did not participate in the war, they sent elite soldiers and tanks to support Syria and warplanes to support Egypt.
Although the war ended in crushing defeats in Syria and Egypt, Iraq's actions won unanimous praise from Arab countries, and Saddam Hussein was considered an Arab hero.
In July 1979, Saddam Hussein finally became the president of Iraq, as well as the leader of the Baath Party, the Iraqi military commander and chairman of the Revolutionary Command Committee
On his first day in office, Saddam Hussein would convene hundreds of Iraqi government officials, at which he executed 60 people who disagreed with him for treason.
At Saddam's request, these men were severely tortured and videotaped on their deathbed. Since then, videos of the purge have circulated throughout the country, and no one has dared to challenge Saddam's majesty in Iraqi politics.
In the early days of Saddam's power, with the goal of promoting economic development, developing education and improving people's livelihood, he won the support of the broad masses of the people and greatly improved the lives of the Iraqi people.
Under Saddam's rule, Iraq's military power was also greatly enhanced, and they spent a lot of money to buy a large amount of aviation equipment from the Soviet Union and establish a modern Soviet-style air force.
However, as Iraq's national and military strength grew, Iraq moved to invade its neighbors.
Saddam Hussein frequently waged wars
In September 1980, Iraq and Iran clashed over territorial and regional leadership issues, and Saddam Hussein took the lead in attacking Iran. The Iraqi Kurdish nation, which has long aspired to independence and self-determination, took the opportunity to launch a new round of struggle during the Iran-Iraq war.
Iran has also begun to use the Kurds as a bargaining chip to contain Iraq and provide a large amount of arms aid to the Kurdish democratic parties.
Focusing on the war with Iran and not having the energy to deal with internal issues, the Kurdish Democratic Party became more active in its actions, armed with attacks on government institutions and establishing strongholds in many places, gaining control of some areas.
Saddam was outraged by the Kurdish actions during the Iran-Iraq war, seeing it as a huge threat to undermine his rule. Iraq and Iran reached a truce in 1988 that killed hundreds of thousands of people in both countries and cost their economies a huge $900 billion.
After the war, the border between the two countries returned to the pre-war state, and Iraq, which started the war, did not gain any benefits.
After the end of the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam began to take revenge on the Kurds, and he launched a large-scale military operation called "Anfar". Saddam Hussein even did not hesitate to use biological and chemical weapons in an attempt to eliminate Kurdish forces in the shortest possible time.
Between 23 February 1988 and 23 April 1989, Operation Anfar resulted in the deaths of 182,000 Kurds and the destruction of Kurdish villages, schools, hospitals and mosques.
The Kurdish 30-kilometre radius of northern Iraq has become a wasteland. This incident has added a thick black touch to Iraq's history, and Saddam Hussein cannot escape blame.
On 2 August 1990, Saddam Hussein ordered the Iraqi army to invade Kuwait, overthrow the Kuwaiti Government, declare the return of Kuwait to Iraq, and realize the reunification of Iraq.
With United Nations approval, the United States-led multinational force launched a military strike against Iraqi forces in Kuwait and Iraq on 17 January 1991.
The multinational coalition won a smaller victory, inflicting heavy damage on the Iraqi army, and Saddam Hussein eventually agreed to withdraw his troops stationed in Kuwait. The fight led many countries to impose sanctions on Iraq, yet in the 1995 and 2002 elections, Saddam Hussein was re-elected president with 99 percent and 100 percent of the vote.
The Iraq War broke out and Saddam Hussein was executed
In 2001, after the 911 terrorist attacks, the then US president repeatedly vowed to overthrow Saddam's regime, and the US government insisted that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
However, although the United Nations has sent hundreds of inspection teams and thousands of experts to Iraq to investigate, there is no evidence that Iraq has weapons of destruction. However, this did not stop the United States from waging war.
In February 2003, the United States displayed a small tube of white powder at a meeting of the Security Council, claiming that it was evidence that Iraq was manufacturing chemical weapons.
On 20 March 2003, despite international opposition, the United States rallied its allies to launch a war of aggression against Iraq, posing a serious threat to peace and stability in the Middle East.
Two of Saddam's sons and eldest grandson were killed in a firefight with U.S. troops. Saddam Hussein was arrested by U.S. forces on December 13. Three years later, Saddam Hussein was executed by the Iraqi government. However, the US aggression against Iraq did not stop there, Iraq is still raging and the people are displaced...
Mistress recalls Saddam
On September 12, 2002, Saddam's last mistress, then 54-year-old Rampsos, was interviewed by American reporters about their encounter and Saddam's personality. Rampsos and Saddam Hussein met in 1968, and their relationship has been on and off for nearly 30 years.
Born in Greece in 1952, Lampsos was born to an accomplished engineer, and because of his work, she moved with her family to the Iraqi capital at a very young age.
One night in the summer of 1968, Rampsos was invited by neighbors to a banquet hosted by Iraqi politicians and businessmen, where he met Saddam.
She was 16 and Saddam Hussein 31. Despite the great age difference between the two, in Lampsos' recollections, Saddam Hussein was a charismatic man who was not only handsome in appearance, but also exuded an otherworldly temperament.
Lampsos was young at the time and did not yet know anything about the world. She was attracted to Saddam's charms, and knowing that Saddam was married, she still fell in love with him and became his mistress.
The two did not disclose their relationship at first, but not because of Rampsos' reputation, but to preserve Saddam's image.
However, the paper could not contain the fire, and the relationship between Lampsos and Saddam Hussein soon reached the ears of Lampsos's father.
When Rampsos' father learned the secret, he panicked because he understood that Saddam was a dangerous figure and decided to cut off his daughter from Saddam.
In 1970, Lampsos was forcibly sent back to Lebanon by his father and never saw Saddam Hussein again. This marked the temporary end of the relationship between the two.
However, because Saddam Hussein was busy preparing for the vice presidential election, he showed no reaction to Rampsos' departure. After months of waiting, Rampsos finally came to terms with this reality.
She married a businessman named Sirop at her father's arrangement. Within 2 years of marriage, they had a pair of lovely daughters. In 1972, due to a change in company, Sirop and the Rampsos family returned to Iraq again.
That year, Saddam Hussein was in power, and as soon as the Rampsos family got off the plane, they were arrested by a team of heavily armed police, and Sirop was put in jail and all his property confiscated.
Rampsos and his two young daughters were isolated and desperate. At this critical juncture, Rampsos received a call from Saddam's lawyer, who relayed Saddam's order: if you want Sirop to live, divorce him immediately.
In desperation, Rampsos chose to divorce Sirop. Subsequently, under Saddam's arrangement, Rampsos nominally married a close confidant of Saddam, but in fact lived under Saddam's control.
Her ex-husband, Sirop, was acquitted, and after an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Rampsos and his daughters, he returned to Lebanon alone, and the two have not seen each other since.
After the marriage, Rampsos and her two daughters moved into a villa near the presidential palace, which completely became Saddam's possession.
She has never met her new husband, there are layers of guards inside and outside the villa, and the contact with the outside world is only a step phone call, but there is only Saddam on the other side of the phone, as long as the other party gives an order, Rampsos will be immediately sent to Saddam. In 1974, at the age of 26, Rampsos became pregnant with Saddam's child.
In the middle of the same year, Lampsos's father paid a lot of money to buy the relationship, successfully rescued her and her children, and fled with them to Greece. However, Lampsos's father's family property is in Baghdad, and this wealth is her father's accumulation throughout his life, and it is also the greatest guarantee of the family's future life.
Rampsos had to turn to the embassy to get his father's property back. After waiting for several days, Rampsos received a personal letter from Saddam Hussein, asking her to return to Baghdad with the child within three days.
Looking at this letter, Lampsos felt a heavy heart, After many years of getting along, Lampsos has figured out Saddam's style of doing things, and she knows that if she does not return to Baghdad, her family will be affected by herself.
Eventually, under Saddam's threat, Rampsos returned to Baghdad with his children. When Rampsos stepped off the plane, a staff member handed her a brand new passport.
From this moment on, Rampsos officially became a citizen of Iraq, completely living under Saddam's control, and imprisoned by him.
According to Rampsos, before the Gulf War began, Saddam Hussein was in control because he arrogantly believed he would never be defeated.
After learning the news of the defeat, Saddam Hussein's eyes turned red and he muttered to himself that he would take Kuwait back and achieve the reunification of Iraq no matter what.
After the defeat of the war, Saddam's temperament became more and more elusive, and the whole person became crazy and frightening. At that time, Saddam Hussein was nearly 60 years old and no longer as handsome as he used to be, dyeing his gray hair black and often applying a mask to reduce facial wrinkles.
Saddam Hussein also enjoyed tasting whiskey, smoking cigars, and watching others being tortured, and only then could his heart feel happy.
After the outbreak of the Iraq War, Saddam Hussein became more and more insane, and the imprisoned Lampsos was also subjected to inhuman torture.
Fortunately, in 2002, Lampsos' situation began to improve. That year, opposition rose in Iraq, and Lampsos used their power to flee Iraq and return to Lebanon.
However, in order to avoid Saddam's assassination, she never dared to appear in public. In interviews with reporters, she asked to be done in a safe house, and after decades of a life of terror, the slightest stir would make her panic.
After Saddam's execution in 2006, Rampsos was finally truly free.
Iraq was once one of the richest countries in the world, but Saddam Hussein launched several wars because of his desires and ambitions, forcing the Iraqi people into flames.
At the same time, he also used brutal means to exterminate the Kurds and used inhuman repressive methods against hostile political parties, so he was called a tyrant and dictator by the people. Although Saddam Hussein was sanctioned by the US military, the US military is by no means a righteous person, and they are the culprits that make the war in Iraq endless.
Resources:
"The Crime of the US Invasion of Iraq Cannot Be Eliminated for 20 Years" Xinhuanet
The National Thief, Butcher, Tyrant: What kind of leader was Saddam Hussein for Iraq? 》Baidu Encyclopedia
"She has been dating Saddam for 30 years? "Defected mistress" tells love history" Sohu News