Fun Facts About Saddam Hussein
- Saddam Hussein once received a key to the city of Detroit: it was given in 1980 after he donated nearly half a million dollars to a local Chaldean Catholic church.[1]
- The name Saddam means "the fighter who stands steadfast."[1]
- Saddam styled himself as the modern successor of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and had bricks of ancient Babylon stamped with his name and titles.[1]
- Saddam twice studied law: he dropped out of an Iraqi law school in 1957 and later studied unsuccessfully at Cairo Law School while living in Egypt.[1]
- In 2002 Saddam officially won a referendum with 100% of the vote: every one of 11,445,638 eligible voters was reported to have voted "Yes."[1]
- After his capture in 2003, Saddam's guards in Baghdad nicknamed him "Vic," for "Very Important Criminal," and let him plant a small garden near his cell.[1]
- Saddam Hussein was alive at the same time as Sigmund Freud — their lives overlapped for 2 years (1937–1939).[1][2][3][4]
- Saddam Hussein and Grigori Rasputin died on the same day of the year, December 30.[1][2][5][6]
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003. He also served as prime minister of Iraq from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organization, the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. The Iraqi Ba'ath Party, which initially espoused a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, quickly diverged into a right-wing ideology known as Saddamism.[1]
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Questions About Saddam Hussein
When was Saddam Hussein born?
Saddam Hussein was born on April 28, 1937, and died on December 30, 2006.
How old was Saddam Hussein at death?
Saddam Hussein was born on April 28, 1937, and died on December 30, 2006, at age 69.
What was Saddam Hussein known for?
Saddam Hussein was known for: President of Iraq 1979–2003. Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003. He also served as prime minister of Iraq from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. He was a leading member of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, and later, the Baghdad-based Ba'ath Party and its regional organization, the Iraqi Ba'ath Party. The Iraqi Ba'ath Party, which initially espoused a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism, quickly diverged into a right-wing ideology known as Saddamism.
Who was alive at the same time as Saddam Hussein?
Saddam Hussein's closest contemporary was Ingmar Bergman. Their lives overlapped for 69 years.
Sources
- Saddam Hussein — Wikipedia. Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Saddam Hussein (Q1316) — Wikidata
- Sigmund Freud — Wikipedia
- Sigmund Freud (Q9215) — Wikidata
- Grigori Rasputin — Wikipedia
- Grigori Rasputin (Q43989) — Wikidata
- Portrait: Saddam Hussein in 1998.png — Wikimedia Commons. Iraqi News Agency, Public domain