: Saddam Hussein is born in the
village of Tikrit in central Iraq.
October 1956: Saddam joins the Baath
party.
October 1959: He takes part in an
assassination attempt against Iraq's ruler, General
Abdul Karim Qassem. He flees Iraq and spends four years
in exile in Egypt.
February 1963: He returns to Baghdad
after the Baath party comes to power in a military coup.
The Baathists are defeated nine months later. Saddam is
jailed and elected – while in prison - as the Baath
party deputy secretary-general.
July 1968: The Baath party seizes power
from Abdul Mohammed Aref. Saddam is the party's number
two.
March 1975: He signs a border agreement
with Shah of Iran. The latter then supported Kurdish
rebellions.
July 1979: Ahmed Hassan Al-Bakr steps
down and Saddam becomes president.
September 1980: War starts between Iraq
and Iran. Iraq is backed by the US during the eight-year
war, in which a million people die.
March 1988: The Iraqi army bombs
Halabjah and gases 5,000 Kurdish villagers.
August 1988: A ceasefire is signed
between Iran and Iraq.
August 1990: Saddam invades and annexes
Kuwait.
Saddam brandishing an assault
rifle during a
visit to villages in northern Iraq [AFP]
January 1991: US-led operation "desert storm"
drives the Iraqi army out of Kuwait.
October 1995: Saddam wins a
presidential referendum, official figures
giving him more than 99 per cent of the votes.
September 2001: George Bush, the US
president, calls Iraq "a rogue state".
October 2002: Saddam wins 100 per
cent of votes in another presidential referendum.
December 2002: He apologises for
invading Kuwait. Kuwait does not accept the apology.
February 2003: Saddam denies being in
possession of any chemical or nuclear weapons and denies
that he has any links with al-Qaeda.
20 March 2003: A US-led coalition
invades Iraq, despite not securing a UN resolution
authorising it to do so.
9 April 2003: US troops enter Baghdad.
Saddam as a young member of the
Baath Party [AFP]
22 July 2003
: Uday and Qusay Hussein, Saddam's
sons, are killed by US troops in a raid on a house in
Mosul.
13 December 2003: US officials announce
the capture of Saddam.
19 October 2005
: Start of Saddam’s trial for
the 1982 killing of 148 Shia men in Dujail after a
failed assassination attempt on the president.
21 August 2006: Start of the Anfal.
Saddam is accused of killing thousands of Kurdish
civilians in 1988.
5 November 2006: Saddam is found guilty
and sentenced to death for crimes against humanity.
26 December 2006: The Iraqi court of
appeal upholds the death sentence against Saddam.
Dec.30, 2006:
Saddam has been executed by hanging at 6:00am.
