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''{{WarriorInfo|[[File:SaddamH1.png|250px]]|[[Combat knife|Combat Knife]], [[Browning Hi-Power|Browning Semi-Automatic Pistol]], [[RPK Light Machine Gun]], [[RGD-5|RGD-5 Grenade]]|Iraq|Ruling Iraq|1973-2003|Won vs. [[Pol Pot]]|Sabah Khodada {{c|Former Iraqi Army General}}<Br>Calvin Bondley {{c|Weapons Specialist}}<br>Lt. Col. Rick Francona {{c|former USAF/[[CIA]]}}}}''
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{{WarriorInfo|[[File:SaddamH1.png|250px]]|[[Combat knife|Combat Knife]], [[Browning Hi-Power|Browning Semi-Automatic Pistol]], [[RPK Light Machine Gun|RPK]], [[RGD-5|RGD-5 Grenade]]|Iraq|Ruling Iraq<br/>Recreating Babylon Empire||Won vs. [[Pol Pot]]|Sabah Khodada {{c|Former Iraqi Army General}}<br>Calvin Bondley {{c|Weapons Specialist}}<br>Lt. Col. Rick Francona {{c|former USAF/[[CIA]]}}}}
 
 
"''Inside of him, he was a shaky personality. A failed human being, an ignorant human being, he was an enemy to the people closest to him. This means he executes anyone.''"
 
"''Inside of him, he was a shaky personality. A failed human being, an ignorant human being, he was an enemy to the people closest to him. This means he executes anyone.''"
 
-Sabah Khodada, former Iraqi Army general
 
-Sabah Khodada, former Iraqi Army general
Line 9: Line 8:
   
 
==Stats==
 
==Stats==
*Age: 50
+
*Age: 50 (in 1987)
 
*Height: 6' 2"
 
*Height: 6' 2"
 
*Weight: 215 lbs
 
*Weight: 215 lbs
*Reign of Terror: 1973-2003
 
 
*Symbol: Tsade (letter of the Arabic alphabet, sometimes spelled 'Sad')
 
*Symbol: Tsade (letter of the Arabic alphabet, sometimes spelled 'Sad')
   
 
==History==
 
==History==
Saddam Hussein was born on April 28, 1937 in Al-Awja, Iraq to a family of shepherds. Even at a young age, he showed aggressive behavior by killing one of his cousins at the age of 17. He joined the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party in 1957 at the age of twenty and gained popularity for attempting to assassinate Present Qaseem of Iraq and other similar coups. This act helped him gradually rose through the ranks to become President of Iraq in July 1979. Within days of coming to power, Hussein had 68 members of his own party arrested for "disloyalty", with 22 sentenced to death and executed by firing squad. By the end of the month, hundreds of high-ranking Ba'ath Party members had been executed.
+
Saddam Hussein was born on April 28, 1937 in Al-Awja, Iraq to a family of shepherds. Months before Saddam Hussein was born, both his father and older brother died, while his mom was still pregnant with him. Saddam's mother actually claimed that she was pregnant with the devil and that before he was born, Saddam had the other men in the family killed so that he could be the only male in the family. When he was born, Hussein's mother gave him the name Saddam which means 'the one who confronts'. Even at a young age, he showed aggressive behavior by killing one of his cousins at the age of 17. He joined the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party in 1957 at the age of twenty and gained popularity for attempting to assassinate Present Qaseem of Iraq and other similar coups. This act helped him gradually rose through the ranks to become President of Iraq in July 1979. Within days of coming to power, Hussein had 68 members of his own party arrested for "disloyalty", with 22 sentenced to death and executed by firing squad. By the end of the month, hundreds of high-ranking Ba'ath Party members had been executed.
   
  +
===Iraq Iran War===
At the same time in neighboring Iran, the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution, giving way to an Islamic republic led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Saddam, who already had a bitter enmity with Khomeini, feared that radical Islamic ideas- hostile to his secular rule- were rapidly spreading in his own country among the majority Shiite population (Hussein himself was a Sunni Muslim). Also since in 1980 the destabilizing effects of the revolution still affected the new Iran, Saddam saw the neighboring country as politically and militarily weak. This led to the invasion of Iran and the eight-year long Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). Because of Iran's strong anti-western stance, many nations sided with Saddam and Iraq including the USA. Yet it is possible that the USA's involvement may have been to weaken both countries by prolonging the war, as the [[CIA]] sent weapons to both Iraq and Iran with an example being the infamous Iran-Contra affair. Saddam overestimated his own army's abilities and underestimated Iran's defenses. His invasion was a simple invasion at first but Saddam gave his officers too many orders for them to function. Meanwhile Iran was the opposite; the Iranian army had very simple orders that the common officer could easily and reasonable understand and perform. When Saddam's generals demanded retreat, Saddam executed many of them for cowardliness. However his army returned to Iraq and Saddam was now on the defensive; in Early July 1982, Operation Ramadan began. Despite Iraq's use of chemical weapons, the war ended in a stalemate and cost Iraq billions of dollars. In 1988, Iraq began building a massive army of tanks to prepare a counter-invasion of Iran. Seeing this, Iran decided to declare a ceasefire in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 598.
 
  +
At the same time in neighboring Iran, the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution, giving way to an Islamic republic led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Saddam, who already had a bitter enmity with Khomeini, feared that radical Shia ideas- hostile to his secular Sunni rule- were rapidly spreading in his own country among the majority Shia population. Also since in 1980 the destabilizing effects of the revolution still affected the new Iran, Saddam saw the neighboring country as politically and militarily weak.
  +
  +
This led to the invasion of Iran and the eight-year long Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). Because of Iran's strong anti-western stance, many nations sided with Saddam and Iraq including the USA and Saudi Arabia (which wanted Iraq to be a buffer against Iran). Iraq gained more support as Iran began attacking Iraq's oil exports; which infuriated the nations buying the oil. Yet it is possible that the USA's involvement may have been to weaken both countries by prolonging the war, as the [[CIA]] sent weapons to both Iraq and Iran with an example being the infamous Iran-Contra affair.
  +
 
Saddam overestimated his own army's abilities, crippled the authority of his generals (so that they could not launch a military coup against Saddam), and underestimated Iran's defenses. His invasion was simple at first, but Saddam soon gave his officers too many orders for them to function. Meanwhile Iran was the opposite; the Iranian army had very simple orders that the common officer could easily and reasonable understand and perform. When Saddam's generals demanded retreat, Saddam executed many of them for cowardliness. However his army returned to Iraq and Saddam was now on the defensive; in Early July 1982, Operation Ramadan began. Despite Iraq's use of chemical weapons, the war ended in a stalemate and cost Iraq billions of dollars. In 1988, Iraq began building a massive army of tanks to prepare a counter-invasion of Iran. Seeing this, Iran decided to declare a ceasefire in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 598.
   
 
Following the war, Hussein ordered the Halabja poison gas attack, wiping out between 3,200 and 5,000 Iraqi Kurds. This was mainly done to suppress a growing independence movement in a region known as Kurdistan, but was also fuel by Saddam's Arabic radical extremism.
 
Following the war, Hussein ordered the Halabja poison gas attack, wiping out between 3,200 and 5,000 Iraqi Kurds. This was mainly done to suppress a growing independence movement in a region known as Kurdistan, but was also fuel by Saddam's Arabic radical extremism.
   
  +
===Gulf War===
On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded its wealthy neighbor Kuwait, sparking the Persian Gulf War. Although originally Saddam's ally, the US sided with their allies of Kuwait and liberated the country from Saddam's government. After the war the US would denounce Iraq and Saddam repeatedly for being a rouge nation and accusing Saddam of supporting terrorism (which has yet to be proven). The USA would impose sanctions against Iraq during the 1990s, which led to economic turmoil in Iraq, yet Saddam's rule was not only still strong but in some ways more popular because of this resistance against a stronger nation.
 
  +
On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded its wealthy neighbor Kuwait, sparking the Persian Gulf War. While many cite oil as a factor for the invasion; Saddam also had loans to Kuwait due to the Iraq-Iran War and thought that invading Kuwait would allow him to erase the loans. Kuwait was also separated from Iraq's territory as a Protectorate of the British Empire: and so Iraqis demanded the land to be returned ever since.
   
 
Although originally Saddam's ally, the US sided with their allies of Kuwait and liberated the country from Saddam's government. After the war the US would denounce Iraq and Saddam repeatedly for being a rouge nation and accusing Saddam of supporting terrorism (which has yet to be proven). The USA would impose sanctions against Iraq during the 1990s, which led to economic turmoil in Iraq, yet Saddam's rule was not only still strong but in some ways more popular because of this resistance against a stronger nation.
Saddam Hussein remained in power until the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, when he was captured in December. He was put on trial for crimes against humanity, was convicted on November 5, 2006, and hanged on December 30. Despite the fall of this dictator, the US invasion of Iraq was controversial as the invasion was technically illegal- based on the US ideas (later proven false) that Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction and was supporting Al-Qaeda.
 
   
  +
===War on Terror===
During the American occupation, the US attempted to remove Saddam's influence by limiting or banning any supporter or member of the Baathist from the job market. However this law became so broad that relatively normal sunnis were included in the exclusion: thus a majority of the sunnis were unemployed due to a unjust law maintained by a corrupt puppet state. What's worse, many of the former members of Saddam's military kept their weapons, meaning they had both the reasons and the weapons needed to launch a revolt against the US coalition.
 
 
Saddam Hussein remained in power until the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. The invasion starting on March 20th was 3 pronged and ended April 15th [https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TesYjLIGWdDDl6QgmPvlYPvHlhA=/0x0:590x599/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:590x599):gifv():no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/784846/mYEkCER.0.gif]; with Saddam being captured in December the same year. He was put on trial for crimes against humanity, was convicted on November 5, 2006, and hanged on December 30. Despite the fall of this dictator, the US invasion of Iraq was controversial as the invasion was technically illegal- based on the US ideas (later proven false) that Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction and was supporting Al-Qaeda.
   
 
During the American occupation, the US attempted to remove Saddam's influence by limiting or banning any supporter or member of the Baathist from the job market. However this law became so broad that relatively normal Sunnis were included in the exclusion: thus a majority of the Sunnis were unemployed due to a unjust law maintained by a corrupt puppet state. What's worse, many of the former members of Saddam's military kept their weapons, meaning they had both the reasons and the weapons needed to launch a revolt against the US coalition.
Today Iraq is a highly unstable nation with high corruption, murder and crime rates. Many Iraqis see Saddam in a very controversial light but many do believe Iraq was better as a stable dictatorship than a collapsing 'democracy'. The Kurds, a race that Saddam repressed and massacred, celebrated the downfall of Saddam. The Sunni population has felt repression from the new Shia leadership, and many Sunnis preferred the leadership of Saddam's Sunni Ba'ath Party. Some will remember Saddam for his stand against the enemies of Iraq, especially the USA and Iran. The modern Iraqi government has attempted to remove Saddam's personality cult, destroying many of his statues and pictures. Three famous artifacts from Saddam's reign still exist intact; a Quran written in Saddam's blood otherwise known as the 'Blood Quran' (as destroying the holy book would be considered blaspheme), a golden AK-47 and the Victory Arch (stayed for being a memorial to the Iraq-Iran war, though US troops have stolen some helmets from the site).
 
  +
  +
===ISIS and Today===
 
Today Iraq is a highly unstable nation with high corruption, murder and crime rates. Many Iraqis see Saddam in a very controversial light but many do believe Iraq was better as a stable dictatorship than a collapsing 'democracy'. The Kurds, a race that Saddam repressed and massacred, celebrated the downfall of Saddam. The Sunni population has felt repression from the new Shia leadership, and many Sunnis preferred the leadership of Saddam's Sunni Ba'ath Party. Some will remember Saddam for his stand against the enemies of Iraq, especially the USA and Iran. The modern Iraqi government has attempted to remove Saddam's personality cult, destroying many of his statues and pictures. Three famous artifacts from Saddam's reign still exist intact; (currently located in the Iraqi National Museum is) a Quran written in Saddam's blood otherwise known as the 'Blood Quran' (as destroying the holy book would be considered blaspheme), a golden AK-47 and the Victory Arch (stayed for being a memorial to the Iraq-Iran war, though US troops have stolen some helmets from the site).
   
 
In 2014 a splinter cell of Al-Qaeda known as ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) revolted against the Iraqi government that the USA created after the fall of Saddam. Many of Saddam's former military officers, Ba'athist supporters and the Ba'athist terrorists that fought the US occupation of Iraq have joined the ISIS as they both share common Sunni goals. The power vacuum that the US created from their withdraw combined with the unpopularity of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have allowed ISIS to conquer a third of Iraq in less than a month. There is implication that these Sunni extremists honor the memory of Saddam and see him as a martyr, and it's possible that ISIS is mimicking Saddam's past actions of repression, genocide and state sponsored terrorism. Iran, the same country Saddam previously declared war on, is willing to support the new Iraqi state to protect the Shia who live in the eastern half of the nation. Yet while the Iraqi front is currently locked at a stalemate, ISIS continues to grow in Syria.
 
In 2014 a splinter cell of Al-Qaeda known as ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) revolted against the Iraqi government that the USA created after the fall of Saddam. Many of Saddam's former military officers, Ba'athist supporters and the Ba'athist terrorists that fought the US occupation of Iraq have joined the ISIS as they both share common Sunni goals. The power vacuum that the US created from their withdraw combined with the unpopularity of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have allowed ISIS to conquer a third of Iraq in less than a month. There is implication that these Sunni extremists honor the memory of Saddam and see him as a martyr, and it's possible that ISIS is mimicking Saddam's past actions of repression, genocide and state sponsored terrorism. Iran, the same country Saddam previously declared war on, is willing to support the new Iraqi state to protect the Shia who live in the eastern half of the nation. Yet while the Iraqi front is currently locked at a stalemate, ISIS continues to grow in Syria.
  +
  +
The final Battle of Mosul ended on 20 July 2017, with ISIS mostly leaving Iraq months later (although ISIS cells still remain in the country.)
  +
  +
Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum on 25 September 2017 voted in favor of Kurdish independence with an overwhelming 92.73%. The Iraqi government however has either ignored or showed hostility against the independence declaration.
  +
  +
Many former terrorist leaders have recently entered Iraq's politics; with the most noticeable being the anti-western Shiite: Muqtada al-Sadr.
  +
 
[[File:Saddam_Hussein.jpg|thumb|300px]]
 
[[File:Saddam_Hussein.jpg|thumb|300px]]
   
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==Trivia==
 
==Trivia==
*This is the first modern match up to use named warriors from the last half of the 20th century.
 
*This is the second battle to be set in a location that gives one of the warriors an advantage over the other, since Saddam is fighting on his own turf.
 
*Saddam is tied with [[William the Conqueror]] as the heaviest warrior on the show with a confirmed weight (at 215 lbs.)
 
*This is the only episode in season 3 where both warriors use four weapons each.
 
*A video available on the official Deadliest Warrior website shows tests cut from the episode examining the combatants' preferred methods of torture: Saddam's chemical acid bath and [[Pol Pot]]'s electrocution torture.
 
*One of the Saddam Hussein experts, Sabah Khodada, served under Saddam until he was arrested for insubordination. He is the first and so far only expert to have personally known the named warrior as most of the other named warriors existed too far into the past to have any witnesses of their actions alive today. Sabah didn't speak english, so he had Francosa translate for him.
 
*According to the show, Saddam dreamed of recreating the Babylon Empire with him in the center of power.
 
*Ending his reign at 2003 and being executed in 2006 by hanging, Saddam is the most recent inactive warrior and named warrior on the show.
 
*Possibly a sign of Saddam's narcissism, most Republican Guards of Iraq during Saddam's reign had mustaches similar to Saddam's. However the simulated fight has all the guards with light beards instead, possibly to avoid confusion.
 
 
*Although Saddam's Ba'ath Party is removed from power and outlawed in Iraq, they still exist in Iraq as a terrorist group, which was formed after being removed from power. They continue the Iraq War even after US and NATO forces left in 2011.
 
*Although Saddam's Ba'ath Party is removed from power and outlawed in Iraq, they still exist in Iraq as a terrorist group, which was formed after being removed from power. They continue the Iraq War even after US and NATO forces left in 2011.
*Saddam's Ba'athist government and ideology have influences from fascism and [[Waffen SS|Nazism]]. Saddam also believed in Arabic supremacy and ethnic cleansing, a main motivation for the purges of Iraqi Kurds.
+
*Saddam's Ba'athist government and ideology have influences from fascism and [[Waffen SS|Nazism]]. Saddam also believed in Arabic supremacy and ethnic cleansing, a main motivation for the purges of Iraqi Kurds. Saddam Hussein also persecuted the Jewish population in his country, by the time Hussein was overthrown, only 34 Jews lived in Iraq.
*Contrary to the Bush administration's claims, Saddam was not an ally of Al-Qaeda or the [[Taliban]]. Saddam had no direct relationship with the groups and actually suppressed similar extremist groups. However both Saddam and the CIA have funded jihadists in Iran as both Iraq (during Saddam's reign) and the USA were enemies of the current government of Iran. Osama bin Ladin disliked Hussein for his secular regime.
+
*Contrary to the Bush administration's claims, Saddam was not an ally of Al-Qaeda or the [[Taliban]]. Saddam had no direct relationship with the groups and actually suppressed similar extremist groups. However both Saddam and the [[CIA]] have funded jihadists in Iran as both Iraq (during Saddam's reign) and the USA were enemies of the current government of Iran. Osama bin Ladin disliked Hussein for his secular regime.
  +
**Saddam's government were actually the first victim of an Islamic suicide bombing: the Islamic Dawa Party on December 15, 1981 1981 committed The Iraqi Embassy Bombing. The Islamic Dawa Party returned to Iraq after the USA removed Saddam in 2003.
*Saddam's troops appear again in the [[Navy SEAL]] vs. [[Israeli Commando]] episode, getting attacked by the SEALs rescuing a Navy Seabee being held hostage by Saddam's men
+
*Saddam's troops appear again in the [[Navy SEAL]] vs. [[Israeli Commando]] episode, getting attacked by the SEALs rescuing a Navy Seabee being held hostage by Saddam's men.
*During the beginning of the Iraq-Iran War Saddam was seen as a major American ally. In 1980 he was made an honorary citizen of Detroit for aiding a bankrupt church in Detroit.
+
*During the beginning of the Iraq-Iran War Saddam was seen as a major American ally. The [[CIA]] funded Iraq and gave him weapons, some of which was used against the Iraqi people. In 1980, he was made an honorary citizen of Detroit for aiding a bankrupt church in Detroit.
 
*Saddam sabotaged so much of Kuwait that it led to the largest oil spill in human history so far. This was a slightly successful attempt to slow down the advance of American troops in the US invasion of Kuwait.
 
*Saddam sabotaged so much of Kuwait that it led to the largest oil spill in human history so far. This was a slightly successful attempt to slow down the advance of American troops in the US invasion of Kuwait.
 
*Possibly a sign of Saddam's narcissism, most Republican Guards of Iraq during Saddam's reign had mustaches similar to Saddam's. However the simulated fight has all the guards with light beards instead to avoid confusion.
*Saddam was believed to be involved in an assassination attempt on George H. W. Bush.
 
  +
*Saddam was believed to be involved in an assassination attempt on George H. W. Bush. In response, Bush's successor, Bill Clinton, [[wikipedia:1993 cruise missile strikes on Iraq|launched some cruise missiles]] at Iraqi Intelligence headquarters in 1993.
 
*The city of Basra has a memorial of about 100 statues of fallen Iraqi officers who fought in the Iraq-Iran War. They are all pointing towards Iran, blaming them for the war (despite Saddam being the obvious aggressor).
 
*The city of Basra has a memorial of about 100 statues of fallen Iraqi officers who fought in the Iraq-Iran War. They are all pointing towards Iran, blaming them for the war (despite Saddam being the obvious aggressor).
 
*Before hiding in exile during the Iraq War, Saddam stole about $1 Billion from Iraqi banks.
 
*Before hiding in exile during the Iraq War, Saddam stole about $1 Billion from Iraqi banks.
 
*One primary reason why the US led coalition did not invade Baghdad during the Gulf War was because they thought that Saddam would be toppled by a revolution anyways. Instead, Saddam cracked down on such movements. Another reason is because George H. W. Bush foresaw that a complete takeover of Iraq would create regional destabilization (something his son George W. Bush ignored).
 
*One primary reason why the US led coalition did not invade Baghdad during the Gulf War was because they thought that Saddam would be toppled by a revolution anyways. Instead, Saddam cracked down on such movements. Another reason is because George H. W. Bush foresaw that a complete takeover of Iraq would create regional destabilization (something his son George W. Bush ignored).
*Trey Parker, co-creator of "South Park," has a signed photo of Saddam Hussein on his office wall. At the same time, South Park has Saddam as a recurring character that was so absurdly insulting that South Park was banned from Iraq.
+
*Trey Parker, co-creator of "South Park," has a signed photo of Saddam Hussein on his office wall. At the same time, South Park has Saddam as a recurring character that was so absurdly insulting that South Park was banned from Iraq while Saddam was still in power. During his arrest by the American military; Saddam was 'tortured' by being forced to watch South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut multiple times. This movie heavily satires Saddam; depicting him as a Looney Toons-esque joke character who's in a homosexual relationship with Satan. [https://web.archive.org/web/20061201220116/uk.news.yahoo.com/28082006/344/saddam-s-cartoon-capers.html]
*The Baathist Party of Iraq attempted to unify itself with the arab nations of Syria and Egypt; which would have made this union the most populous and potentially most powerful country in the Middle East. This failed due to the Shia and Sunni tensions, especially between Syria's Shia government and Iraq's Sunni government.
+
*The Baathist Party of Iraq attempted to unify itself with the Arab nations of Syria and Egypt; which would have made this union the most populous and potentially most powerful country in the Middle East. This failed due to the Shia and Sunni tensions, especially between Syria's Shia government and Iraq's Sunni government.
 
**In recent years an alliance between Iraq and Syria has formed to fight ISIS and since both countries are currently Shia led, this idea of unity has the potential to be reintroduced.
 
**In recent years an alliance between Iraq and Syria has formed to fight ISIS and since both countries are currently Shia led, this idea of unity has the potential to be reintroduced.
*During his arrest by the American military; Saddam was 'tortured' by being forced to watch South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut multiple times. This movie heavily satires Saddam; depicting him as a Looney Toons-esque joke character who's in a homosexual relationship with Satan. [https://web.archive.org/web/20061201220116/uk.news.yahoo.com/28082006/344/saddam-s-cartoon-capers.html]
 
 
*Shortly before the War on Terror, Saddam was considering retiring from politics and becoming a novelist. He was beginning a transition of political power shortly before the US coalition invaded.
 
*Shortly before the War on Terror, Saddam was considering retiring from politics and becoming a novelist. He was beginning a transition of political power shortly before the US coalition invaded.
  +
*The ruins of Kuait's oil fields are still clearly visible as the massive amount of oil has turned into tar pools.
  +
*While Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks; he did publicly praise the death of the Americans killed in the attacks.
  +
*Saddam personally studied the strategies and tactics used by the [[Viet Cong]] in order to prepare himself for the 2003 Iraq War, which might explain why Ba'ath insurgencies were so sturdy during the US occupation. However, Saddam also underestimated the size and effectiveness of the US army.
  +
*Saddam had his military forces and intelligence agencies intentionally fragmented and conflicting against each other in order to make them too weak and disunified to launch a coup against Saddam's government. However, this fragmentation also made it harder for the Iraqi military to defend itself against the US army.
  +
*Many officers of the Iraqi Intelligence Agency that committed acts of torture and genocide managed to keep their jobs after the 2003 US Invasion of Iraq. The CIA concluded that Saddam's officers were effective at cracking down against terrorist organizations, so the experience of these officers were seen as advantageous for the War On Terror.
  +
 
*A video available on the official Deadliest Warrior website shows tests cut from the episode examining the combatants' preferred methods of torture: Saddam's chemical acid bath and [[Pol Pot]]'s electrocution torture. Saddam Hussein was known to use 107 methods of torture in what was called him "palace of doom" including whipping, hanging people from the ceiling in a position known as "parakeet", drowning and using cigarettes to burn the prisoners eyes.
 
*One of the Saddam Hussein experts, Sabah Khodada, served under Saddam until he was arrested for insubordination. He is the first and so far only expert to have personally known the named warrior as most of the other named warriors existed too far into the past to have any witnesses of their actions alive today. Sabah didn't speak English, so he had Francosa translate for him.
 
*According to the show, Saddam dreamed of recreating the [[wikipedia:Babylon Empire|Babylon Empire]] with him in the center of power.
 
*Ending his reign at 2003 and being executed in 2006 by hanging, Saddam is the most recent inactive warrior and named warrior on the show.
 
*This is the only episode in season 3 where both warriors use four weapons each.
 
*This is the first modern match up to use named warriors from the last half of the 20th century.
 
*This is the second battle to be set in a location that gives one of the warriors an advantage over the other, since Saddam is fighting on his own turf.
 
*Saddam is tied with [[William the Conqueror]] as the heaviest warrior on the show with a confirmed weight (at 215 lbs.)
  +
*In 2000, four thousand PlayStation 2 gaming consoles were shipped to Iraq; rumors began to circulate that Saddam planned to rig them together into a supercomputer or use their components in the construction of guided missiles. The rumors were false; it would be far too impractical and costly to accomplish either of these plans with PS2 consoles.
  +
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hussein, Saddam}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hussein, Saddam}}
 
[[Category:Modern Warriors]]
 
[[Category:Modern Warriors]]
Line 115: Line 138:
 
[[Category:Named Warriors]]
 
[[Category:Named Warriors]]
 
[[Category:Victorious Warriors]]
 
[[Category:Victorious Warriors]]
  +
[[Category:Enemies of the USA]]

Revision as of 16:51, 6 June 2021

Saddam Hussein
SaddamH1
Weapons Combat Knife, Browning Semi-Automatic Pistol, RPK, RGD-5 Grenade
Origin Iraq
Activities Ruling Iraq
Recreating Babylon Empire
Service
Battle Status Won vs. Pol Pot
Experts Sabah Khodada (Former Iraqi Army General)
Calvin Bondley (Weapons Specialist)
Lt. Col. Rick Francona (former USAF/CIA)


"Inside of him, he was a shaky personality. A failed human being, an ignorant human being, he was an enemy to the people closest to him. This means he executes anyone." -Sabah Khodada, former Iraqi Army general

Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi tyrant whose Republican Guard not only slaughtered his enemies, but his own people;

Pol Pot, the Cambodian dictator whose Khmer Rouge guerrillas committed genocide on a quarter of the country's population.

Stats

  • Age: 50 (in 1987)
  • Height: 6' 2"
  • Weight: 215 lbs
  • Symbol: Tsade (letter of the Arabic alphabet, sometimes spelled 'Sad')

History

Saddam Hussein was born on April 28, 1937 in Al-Awja, Iraq to a family of shepherds. Months before Saddam Hussein was born, both his father and older brother died, while his mom was still pregnant with him. Saddam's mother actually claimed that she was pregnant with the devil and that before he was born, Saddam had the other men in the family killed so that he could be the only male in the family. When he was born, Hussein's mother gave him the name Saddam which means 'the one who confronts'. Even at a young age, he showed aggressive behavior by killing one of his cousins at the age of 17. He joined the Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party in 1957 at the age of twenty and gained popularity for attempting to assassinate Present Qaseem of Iraq and other similar coups. This act helped him gradually rose through the ranks to become President of Iraq in July 1979. Within days of coming to power, Hussein had 68 members of his own party arrested for "disloyalty", with 22 sentenced to death and executed by firing squad. By the end of the month, hundreds of high-ranking Ba'ath Party members had been executed.

Iraq Iran War

At the same time in neighboring Iran, the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown by the Islamic Revolution, giving way to an Islamic republic led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Saddam, who already had a bitter enmity with Khomeini, feared that radical Shia ideas- hostile to his secular Sunni rule- were rapidly spreading in his own country among the majority Shia population. Also since in 1980 the destabilizing effects of the revolution still affected the new Iran, Saddam saw the neighboring country as politically and militarily weak.

This led to the invasion of Iran and the eight-year long Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). Because of Iran's strong anti-western stance, many nations sided with Saddam and Iraq including the USA and Saudi Arabia (which wanted Iraq to be a buffer against Iran). Iraq gained more support as Iran began attacking Iraq's oil exports; which infuriated the nations buying the oil. Yet it is possible that the USA's involvement may have been to weaken both countries by prolonging the war, as the CIA sent weapons to both Iraq and Iran with an example being the infamous Iran-Contra affair.

Saddam overestimated his own army's abilities, crippled the authority of his generals (so that they could not launch a military coup against Saddam), and underestimated Iran's defenses. His invasion was simple at first, but Saddam soon gave his officers too many orders for them to function. Meanwhile Iran was the opposite; the Iranian army had very simple orders that the common officer could easily and reasonable understand and perform. When Saddam's generals demanded retreat, Saddam executed many of them for cowardliness. However his army returned to Iraq and Saddam was now on the defensive; in Early July 1982, Operation Ramadan began. Despite Iraq's use of chemical weapons, the war ended in a stalemate and cost Iraq billions of dollars. In 1988, Iraq began building a massive army of tanks to prepare a counter-invasion of Iran. Seeing this, Iran decided to declare a ceasefire in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 598.

Following the war, Hussein ordered the Halabja poison gas attack, wiping out between 3,200 and 5,000 Iraqi Kurds. This was mainly done to suppress a growing independence movement in a region known as Kurdistan, but was also fuel by Saddam's Arabic radical extremism.

Gulf War

On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded its wealthy neighbor Kuwait, sparking the Persian Gulf War. While many cite oil as a factor for the invasion; Saddam also had loans to Kuwait due to the Iraq-Iran War and thought that invading Kuwait would allow him to erase the loans. Kuwait was also separated from Iraq's territory as a Protectorate of the British Empire: and so Iraqis demanded the land to be returned ever since.

Although originally Saddam's ally, the US sided with their allies of Kuwait and liberated the country from Saddam's government. After the war the US would denounce Iraq and Saddam repeatedly for being a rouge nation and accusing Saddam of supporting terrorism (which has yet to be proven). The USA would impose sanctions against Iraq during the 1990s, which led to economic turmoil in Iraq, yet Saddam's rule was not only still strong but in some ways more popular because of this resistance against a stronger nation.

War on Terror

Saddam Hussein remained in power until the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. The invasion starting on March 20th was 3 pronged and ended April 15th [1]; with Saddam being captured in December the same year. He was put on trial for crimes against humanity, was convicted on November 5, 2006, and hanged on December 30. Despite the fall of this dictator, the US invasion of Iraq was controversial as the invasion was technically illegal- based on the US ideas (later proven false) that Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction and was supporting Al-Qaeda.

During the American occupation, the US attempted to remove Saddam's influence by limiting or banning any supporter or member of the Baathist from the job market. However this law became so broad that relatively normal Sunnis were included in the exclusion: thus a majority of the Sunnis were unemployed due to a unjust law maintained by a corrupt puppet state. What's worse, many of the former members of Saddam's military kept their weapons, meaning they had both the reasons and the weapons needed to launch a revolt against the US coalition.

ISIS and Today

Today Iraq is a highly unstable nation with high corruption, murder and crime rates. Many Iraqis see Saddam in a very controversial light but many do believe Iraq was better as a stable dictatorship than a collapsing 'democracy'. The Kurds, a race that Saddam repressed and massacred, celebrated the downfall of Saddam. The Sunni population has felt repression from the new Shia leadership, and many Sunnis preferred the leadership of Saddam's Sunni Ba'ath Party. Some will remember Saddam for his stand against the enemies of Iraq, especially the USA and Iran. The modern Iraqi government has attempted to remove Saddam's personality cult, destroying many of his statues and pictures. Three famous artifacts from Saddam's reign still exist intact; (currently located in the Iraqi National Museum is) a Quran written in Saddam's blood otherwise known as the 'Blood Quran' (as destroying the holy book would be considered blaspheme), a golden AK-47 and the Victory Arch (stayed for being a memorial to the Iraq-Iran war, though US troops have stolen some helmets from the site).

In 2014 a splinter cell of Al-Qaeda known as ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) revolted against the Iraqi government that the USA created after the fall of Saddam. Many of Saddam's former military officers, Ba'athist supporters and the Ba'athist terrorists that fought the US occupation of Iraq have joined the ISIS as they both share common Sunni goals. The power vacuum that the US created from their withdraw combined with the unpopularity of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have allowed ISIS to conquer a third of Iraq in less than a month. There is implication that these Sunni extremists honor the memory of Saddam and see him as a martyr, and it's possible that ISIS is mimicking Saddam's past actions of repression, genocide and state sponsored terrorism. Iran, the same country Saddam previously declared war on, is willing to support the new Iraqi state to protect the Shia who live in the eastern half of the nation. Yet while the Iraqi front is currently locked at a stalemate, ISIS continues to grow in Syria.

The final Battle of Mosul ended on 20 July 2017, with ISIS mostly leaving Iraq months later (although ISIS cells still remain in the country.)

Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum on 25 September 2017 voted in favor of Kurdish independence with an overwhelming 92.73%. The Iraqi government however has either ignored or showed hostility against the independence declaration.

Many former terrorist leaders have recently entered Iraq's politics; with the most noticeable being the anti-western Shiite: Muqtada al-Sadr.

Saddam Hussein

Weapons

Short Range Iraqi Combat Knife
Medium Range Browning Semi-Automatic Pistol
Long Range RPK Light Machine Gun
Explosives RGD-5 Grenade
Torture Methods Chemical Acid Bath

X-Factors

Dominance: 78 (He had his trusted relatives in important positions of the government, his Republican Guards received good training thanks to his oil money and lead the best life. Saddam's brutality against any rebellions helped him to remain aggressive on the battlefield. Although some of his officers like expert Sabah Khodada did defect, Saddam would normally execute traitors or anyone suspected of treason. This paranoia allowed Saddam to stop a CIA lead Coup De Ta in the 1990s)

Training: 70 (due to the fact he has oil money to hire guards with military training)

Psychological Health: 46

Initiative: 74 (due to the lack of explosive power and reliability of his RGD-5 grenade, which made urban assaults much more difficult for his Republican Guards)

Killer Instinct: 86 (military training, the use of gas against civilians and his extreme measures against any kind of rebellion)

Simulated Battle

RedRedRedRedRed Saddam Hussein

BlueBlueBlueBlueBlue Pol Pot

Inside a war-torn Iraqi city, Saddam Hussein sits in his office with a Republican Guardsman looking over paperwork while 3 Republican Guard soldiers stand watch outside his building at a checkpoint. Outside, 4 armed Khmer Rouge soldiers run in, hiding behind building and pillar cover. One Khmer Rouge takes out his stick grenade and lobs it at the guardhouse. The grenade explodes, killing two soldiers and knocking down the third, who quickly recovers. ReddeadReddead Both Hussein and his bodyguard are alerted to explosion as they both exit the office to see the commotion.

Back outside, a firefight starts between the last Republican guard and the Khmer Rouge rebels. The Iraqi soldier, who has taken refuge in the doorway of the office building, takes his RGD-5 grenade and lobs it to the pillars, killing at least one Cambodian insurgent and stunning another to his knees.Bluedead Both Hussein and his bodyguard burst from a second-story balcony and join the fray, shooting and killing the Khmer Rouge before he can get back to his feet. Bluedead The bodyguard stops for a minute to reload a fresh magazine into his RPK machine gun as Pol Pot enters the scene and takes the dead rebel's RPD machine gun and fires at the balcony. Under heavy fire and out gunned, Saddam calls for a retreat as he, his bodyguard, and the last checkpoint guard fall back inside the building. Pol Pot gives the RPD to one of his soldiers and pulls out his Tokarev pistol.

Pol Pot and his remaining Khmer Rouge cross the street and are about to raid the building when Saddam's motorcade comes veering around the corner. Pol Pot and two of his men quickly head him off and fire on the automobile, with Pol Pot's Tokarev shooting the driver in the face and killing him.Reddead The Khmer Rouge forces dive out of the way as the motorcade speeds ahead uncontrollably and crashes into the side of a house. Saddam and his bodyguard quickly exit the vehicle as one Khmer Rouge rebel fires at it with his RPD, shooting the gas tank and exploding the vehicle. The three Khmer Rouge are knocked down by the blast, but because of their cover, are unharmed. The Khmer Rouge moves in with his gun raised, inspecting the flaming wreckage to see the driver and his mortal wound. The last Republican Guard pops out of the doorway of the building he entered and fires at the rebel, forcing him to regroup behind cover with Pol Pot and the other rebel, who return fire. The RPD Khmer Rouge stands up to fire at the guard, but is shot down by Saddam who emerges from the second-story window, firing his Browning pistol. Bluedead

Saddam's bodyguard finishes the last of his RPK ammo and quickly draws his Browning while withdrawing into the safety of the building. Pol Pot and his remaining soldier then move on to the building, Tokarevs at the ready with Pol Pot quickly pointing his upward and shooting. In the alley behind the building, the bodyguard waits for the Khmer Rouge forces to show themselves. The Khmer Rouge rebel soon enters the alley and engages the bodyguard, but Pol Pot quickly puts him down from behind with a strike from his cane knife. Reddead Pot then motions for the rebel to move into the house while Pot frees his knife from the dead guard's back. The rebel moves into the house, but sees nothing. He motions for the Khmer Rouge leader to come in, but is soon attacked from behind by The Butcher of Baghdad, who stabs his combat knife through the front of his chest.Bluedead Pol Pot empties the rest of his Tokarev ammo at Saddam as he drags the dead rebel inside.

He drops his Tokarev on the ground and cautiously enters the building, holding his cane knife. Through a window, he sees Saddam standing behind a wall with only his left arm visible. Pol Pot makes his move and rounds the corner, swinging his cane knife into the dictator's neck. However, he realizes he has cut into the throat of his dead comrade too late when when the real Saddam comes in to his side, wearing an undershirt. Hussein raises his Browning to the Khmer Rouge leader's head, taunts him by saying This is a weapon! in Arabic, and pulls the trigger. Bluedead After Pol Pot drops out of view, Saddam Hussein raises his gun in the air and shouts "Allahu Akbar!" (God is greatest) in victory.

Expert's Opinion

The reason why Saddam Hussein won was due to the fact that Saddam and his Republican Guards had the training, tactics and resources to take out rebel forces, which Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge fighters were. They also mention that while Saddam was also aggressive, he was more sane and organized than the violently crazy Pol Pot and this is how Saddam ended up winning.

Trivia

  • Although Saddam's Ba'ath Party is removed from power and outlawed in Iraq, they still exist in Iraq as a terrorist group, which was formed after being removed from power. They continue the Iraq War even after US and NATO forces left in 2011.
  • Saddam's Ba'athist government and ideology have influences from fascism and Nazism. Saddam also believed in Arabic supremacy and ethnic cleansing, a main motivation for the purges of Iraqi Kurds. Saddam Hussein also persecuted the Jewish population in his country, by the time Hussein was overthrown, only 34 Jews lived in Iraq.
  • Contrary to the Bush administration's claims, Saddam was not an ally of Al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Saddam had no direct relationship with the groups and actually suppressed similar extremist groups. However both Saddam and the CIA have funded jihadists in Iran as both Iraq (during Saddam's reign) and the USA were enemies of the current government of Iran. Osama bin Ladin disliked Hussein for his secular regime.
    • Saddam's government were actually the first victim of an Islamic suicide bombing: the Islamic Dawa Party on December 15, 1981 1981 committed The Iraqi Embassy Bombing. The Islamic Dawa Party returned to Iraq after the USA removed Saddam in 2003.
  • Saddam's troops appear again in the Navy SEAL vs. Israeli Commando episode, getting attacked by the SEALs rescuing a Navy Seabee being held hostage by Saddam's men.
  • During the beginning of the Iraq-Iran War Saddam was seen as a major American ally. The CIA funded Iraq and gave him weapons, some of which was used against the Iraqi people. In 1980, he was made an honorary citizen of Detroit for aiding a bankrupt church in Detroit.
  • Saddam sabotaged so much of Kuwait that it led to the largest oil spill in human history so far. This was a slightly successful attempt to slow down the advance of American troops in the US invasion of Kuwait.
  • Possibly a sign of Saddam's narcissism, most Republican Guards of Iraq during Saddam's reign had mustaches similar to Saddam's. However the simulated fight has all the guards with light beards instead to avoid confusion.
  • Saddam was believed to be involved in an assassination attempt on George H. W. Bush. In response, Bush's successor, Bill Clinton, launched some cruise missiles at Iraqi Intelligence headquarters in 1993.
  • The city of Basra has a memorial of about 100 statues of fallen Iraqi officers who fought in the Iraq-Iran War. They are all pointing towards Iran, blaming them for the war (despite Saddam being the obvious aggressor).
  • Before hiding in exile during the Iraq War, Saddam stole about $1 Billion from Iraqi banks.
  • One primary reason why the US led coalition did not invade Baghdad during the Gulf War was because they thought that Saddam would be toppled by a revolution anyways. Instead, Saddam cracked down on such movements. Another reason is because George H. W. Bush foresaw that a complete takeover of Iraq would create regional destabilization (something his son George W. Bush ignored).
  • Trey Parker, co-creator of "South Park," has a signed photo of Saddam Hussein on his office wall. At the same time, South Park has Saddam as a recurring character that was so absurdly insulting that South Park was banned from Iraq while Saddam was still in power. During his arrest by the American military; Saddam was 'tortured' by being forced to watch South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut multiple times. This movie heavily satires Saddam; depicting him as a Looney Toons-esque joke character who's in a homosexual relationship with Satan. [2]
  • The Baathist Party of Iraq attempted to unify itself with the Arab nations of Syria and Egypt; which would have made this union the most populous and potentially most powerful country in the Middle East. This failed due to the Shia and Sunni tensions, especially between Syria's Shia government and Iraq's Sunni government.
    • In recent years an alliance between Iraq and Syria has formed to fight ISIS and since both countries are currently Shia led, this idea of unity has the potential to be reintroduced.
  • Shortly before the War on Terror, Saddam was considering retiring from politics and becoming a novelist. He was beginning a transition of political power shortly before the US coalition invaded.
  • The ruins of Kuait's oil fields are still clearly visible as the massive amount of oil has turned into tar pools.
  • While Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks; he did publicly praise the death of the Americans killed in the attacks.
  • Saddam personally studied the strategies and tactics used by the Viet Cong in order to prepare himself for the 2003 Iraq War, which might explain why Ba'ath insurgencies were so sturdy during the US occupation. However, Saddam also underestimated the size and effectiveness of the US army.
  • Saddam had his military forces and intelligence agencies intentionally fragmented and conflicting against each other in order to make them too weak and disunified to launch a coup against Saddam's government. However, this fragmentation also made it harder for the Iraqi military to defend itself against the US army.
  • Many officers of the Iraqi Intelligence Agency that committed acts of torture and genocide managed to keep their jobs after the 2003 US Invasion of Iraq. The CIA concluded that Saddam's officers were effective at cracking down against terrorist organizations, so the experience of these officers were seen as advantageous for the War On Terror.
  • A video available on the official Deadliest Warrior website shows tests cut from the episode examining the combatants' preferred methods of torture: Saddam's chemical acid bath and Pol Pot's electrocution torture. Saddam Hussein was known to use 107 methods of torture in what was called him "palace of doom" including whipping, hanging people from the ceiling in a position known as "parakeet", drowning and using cigarettes to burn the prisoners eyes.
  • One of the Saddam Hussein experts, Sabah Khodada, served under Saddam until he was arrested for insubordination. He is the first and so far only expert to have personally known the named warrior as most of the other named warriors existed too far into the past to have any witnesses of their actions alive today. Sabah didn't speak English, so he had Francosa translate for him.
  • According to the show, Saddam dreamed of recreating the Babylon Empire with him in the center of power.
  • Ending his reign at 2003 and being executed in 2006 by hanging, Saddam is the most recent inactive warrior and named warrior on the show.
  • This is the only episode in season 3 where both warriors use four weapons each.
  • This is the first modern match up to use named warriors from the last half of the 20th century.
  • This is the second battle to be set in a location that gives one of the warriors an advantage over the other, since Saddam is fighting on his own turf.
  • Saddam is tied with William the Conqueror as the heaviest warrior on the show with a confirmed weight (at 215 lbs.)
  • In 2000, four thousand PlayStation 2 gaming consoles were shipped to Iraq; rumors began to circulate that Saddam planned to rig them together into a supercomputer or use their components in the construction of guided missiles. The rumors were false; it would be far too impractical and costly to accomplish either of these plans with PS2 consoles.