An analysis of the military decisions made by Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein, a revolutionary member of  the Iraqi Ba’ath party aided in the radical political upheaval with the idea to create one powerful Arab state. A Sunni, soon to be a tyrant of a Shia majority state. As soon as the party rose to power and took over the government, they proved to the citizens that violence was the only way they’d use to remain in power. After being overthrown, they arose once again, this time with Hussein becoming the most powerful person in the government. (People lived in fear as he displayed his power by carrying out public displays of force and violence resulting in the deaths of many people. 

He kept his security and inner circle close and only with those whom he could trust; anyone who opposed the Ba’athist party was terrorised and arrested.) 

Iraq was a secular nation under Hussein’s regime, fighting against Iran’s religious revolution and the Shia majority, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, who aimed to spread the revolution to the 4 corners of the world; a hidden threat to the Ba’athist regime. Shia uprisings and Iranian interference caused Iraq to launch an invasion of Iran in 1980 leading to one of the bloodiest battles of the Middle East. 

The defeat of Iraq in the war was mainly due to poor strategy and execution on Hussein’s part. His military was unable to take out Iranian AirPower, allowing Iranian warplanes to wreak havoc on the poorly defended Iraqi oil facilities. His choice to shell Iranian cities proved to be the worst option chosen to make the Iranian Arabs join him. The costs—financial and human— both took its toll on Iraq. 

Following the defeat in the Iran-Iraq War, he invaded Kuwait to exploit the large oil reserves. Huessein was said to exhibit traits of ‘pathological narcissism’ that swelled his confidence in his own decisions, such as invading Kuwait when the resources should have been allocated elsewhere. The invasion of Kuwait was described as a ‘military disaster’ (Pardew, 1990). Hussein misjudged the Kuwaiti coalition government as well as the response of the US government to such aggression. 

He was not only responsible for the deaths in the Shi’ite population, but also for the  long forgotten Feyli Kurdish Genocide in 1988, which led to the death of 1,82,000 Kurds. They were displaced from their lands and discriminated against by the regime, and had  their homeland, documents, Iraqi citizenship and rights snatched away. Men were arrested and taken away from schools, colleges and even the army where they served. Detained without trials, some were injected to horrific chemical experiments, used as human shields, executed, or were thrown into human meat grinders. This explains the trait of dimmed empathy for others, as those with ‘malignant narcissism’ remain unaffected by human suffering. Genocide is also seen to be an unfortunately common feature of most totalitarian dictatorships that Hussein adopted. 

However, in the mid-70s, during the nationalisation of the oil reserves in Iran, the Ba’athist party started social reforms such as educational campaigns for men and women in Iraq, making it one of the only Islamic nations with a higher standard of living. This devolved soon after the wars due to sanctions placed by the US on Iraq as the once secular party became more theocratic, and the standard of living plunged as the economy became more unstable. What started off as a secular, pan-Arab nationalist and socialist party looking out for the economic welfare of Iraqis, devolved into a theocratic, banned community, sealing records of Hussein’s atrocities. 

It goes without saying that Hussein displayed antisocial features which were also seen in his sons’ behaviours, proving the involvement of heredity in antisocial behaviour.

His regime centred around loyalty to the Ba’athist party and a united Arab nation. A cult-like following began when he plastered his face on posters, banknotes, and murals, as well as erecting statues of himself. He favoured his own sect— Sunni— and was actively against Shia Muslims. This favour was also reciprocated  by the Sunni population, he is believed to have been missed by the Iraqi citizens who claim that post Saddam’s regime, the condition of the state has not improved in any way. 

The American invasion of 2003 was not welcomed by everyone. While some Iraqis agreed that Saddam was a violent ruler and even celebrated his death, others preferred his regime over the ones who came. In the words of Kadhim al-Jabhouri, a man who used to repair Hussein’s motorcycles, ‘Saddam has gone, but in his place we have 1000 Saddams.’ Iraq descended into anarchy, even after the establishment of a government in 2004;the envisioned future of Iraq was never brought to fruition. Unrest, instability, and civil wars marked the following periods in Iraq’s history. 

Hussein was a violent leader, a tyrant who ruled with an iron fist, leading to the violation of rights and deaths of many. He was far from a military genius (in fact he seemed to be unskilled in certain military matters). However, he has left behind a population of people who preferred his authoritarian rule compared to the current government. For the Arabs, he was a true, revolutionary leader, but for many Iraqis, he was a brutal dictator who left nothing but destruction in his wake. 

References 

BBC News. (2016, July 5). “I toppled Saddam’s statue – now I want him back" BBC News [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9wC6W7EJpg 

Bucknam, C. M., ,USAF, & Esquivel, F., DIA. (n.d.). SADDAM HUSSEIN AND THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR. National War College. Retrieved January 24, 2024, from https://nwc.ndu.edu/Portals/71/Images/Publications/Saddam%20Hussein%20and%20the%20Iran-Iraq%20War.pdf?ver=hCUeJe601vWKJoVhDmofiA%3D%3D 

Dillies, B. (2023, June 23). A forgotten genocide: 100 years of solitude for the Kurds. cfri-irak.com. https://cfri-irak.com/en/article/perspectives-and-priorities-for-political-stability-and-public-services-in-iraq-a-leading-national-dialogue-at-the-iraqi-embassy-in-paris-2023-06-23#:~:text=Authors&text=Thirty%2Dfive%20years%20after%20Operation,of%20182%2C000%20people%20in%201988

​​Immelman, A., & Immelman, A. (2021, November 14). The Psychological Profile of Saddam Hussein | USPP. USPP. http://personality-politics.org/psychological-profile-of-saddam-hussein#:~:text=Saddam%20exhibits%20pathological%20narcissism%2C%20a,pain%20and%20suffering%20of%20others

Laub, Z. (2017, May 1). The Iraq War. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/timeline/iraq-war

Mullen, B. (2015, January 12). On genocidal dictators and totalitarian states. Telos Press. https://www.telospress.com/on-genocidal-dictators-and-totalitarian-states/ 

Pardew, J. W., Jr. (1991). The Iraqi Army’s Defeat in Kuwait. Defense Technical Information Center. Retrieved January 24, 2024, from https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA527997.pdf 

Salah, S. (2023, December 1). The Feyli Kurds in Iraq: A Geopolitical Crisis with Complex Identity Consequences. cfri-irak.com. https://cfri-irak.com/en/article/the-feyli-kurds-in-iraq-a-geopolitical-crisis-with-complex-identity-consequences-2023-12-01

The People Profiles. (2023, November 5). Saddam Hussein - Rule & Misrule in Iraq Documentary [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-bzbV1-Yx4 

Tuvblad, C., & Beaver, K. M. (2013). Genetic and environmental influences on antisocial behavior. Journal of Criminal Justice, 41(5), 273–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2013.07.007 

About the author: Aameya Kapoor

Member of the Psycreative Column

Second-year, B.Sc. Applied Psychology student, SDSOS, NMIMS

Aameya kapoor is an avid reader and writer who enjoys researching about any topic under the sun. She constantly watches analogue horror even though she knows that she won't be able to sleep that night. A word of advice from her- singing Yeh Jawani hai Diwani by Kishore Kumar will distract you enough to ignore that lingering feeling of dread when you’re alone in the dark. When she’s not scaring herself to death by watching horror shows that she shouldn’t even be watching at night, you may find her engrossed in a sketch or painting that she may not ever finish. (She says that she’ll get back to it but it will never see the light of day).