Saddam Hussein

As I reflect on my life there are a lot of things to remember. First when I was born on April 28, 1937. Sadly, I was born into a poor home in al-Awja, a small town in north central Iraq. I never got to know my father, Hussein al-Majid, because of his death before I was born. My mother was a strong woman, always a step ahead of traditional laws for Iraqi women. She spoke out in public, spoke to men outside her family. When I was 4 my mother married a horrible man named Hassan Ibrahim. He did not like me at all. He would complain to my mother that they shouldn't keep me because I was not his biological son. He used to beat me and when the other boys my age were going to school, he made me stay home and work. Finally when I was ten I left home to live with my uncle, Khairalah Talfah. He finally gave me the chance to go to school. I went until I was 16 then I attempted to join the military. Unfortunately I was rejected when I failed an entry test. At this time Britain had control over Iraq. I joined the Ba'ath party, a group that promoted Arabic unity, in 1959.

Joining the Ba'ath Party is how I made it up to President of Iraq. The Ba'ath Party wanted to unite Arabic countries and make one Arabic community. I started to go through the ranks of the system in 1959. The leader of Iraq at that time was a man named Abdel Karim Qassem. We did not like Qassem because he had no interest in uniting Arab countries in the Middle East. Our party planned to assassinate Qassem, and I was part of the group of seven that went out to do the job. The plan did not work but I was now known as a power in the Ba'ath Party. After this though I had to leave the country to Egypt to keep clear of Qassem. Qassem had a trial on members of the Ba'ath Party after I had left and I was actually sentenced to death, luckily I was not there. In 1963 the Ba'ath Party overthrew Qassem and unfortunately for him he was murdered. At that time I was able to come back to Iraq. Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr had was a leader of the Ba'ath party and became the president of Iraq. He was becoming older and I was strengthening my own position in the party. As a result I became Al-Bakr's successor and took over when he stepped down on July 16, 1979.

Conflict started with Iran in 1980. Iran overthrew their leader Reza Shah Pahlavi and Ayatollah Khomeini took over. The conflict between Khomeini and I was the fact that I was a Sunni Muslim while he was a Shiite Muslim. In September of that year Iraq invaded Iran. For 8 years our countries fought before Khomeini called for a cease-fire. After this war though our economy was not very good. Oil prices were very low. I demanded money from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia who were thriving economically with their oil production. They refused. That started the Persian Gulf War in 1990. Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. The United States quickly backed Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in this war. U.S. troops began to attack Iraqi troops in January 1991. Their attacks were too much for our army. In March we surrendered and the Persian Gulf War was over. Iraq was left in ruins after I lead them into two wars.

The United States has been against me mostly because of the Persian Gulf War. The United States got their oil supply from Saudi Arabia, so they were going to back Saudi Arabia and Kuwait if I made an attack. After the Persian Gulf War the United States wanted me to step down as President. Then came an investigation saying that I had weapons of mass destruction. I was blamed for having these weapons, supporting terrorists, and torturing my own people. In 2003, the United States attacked because I would not give these weapons up. The invasion began in March, as I went into hiding.

I was found on December 14, 2003. From there the United States army gave me up to the Iraqi people to put on trial. I was found guilty for torturing my people and was sentenced to death. The execution is tomorrow, December 30, 2006. A lot will be said about me after my hanging, but everybody should know that I love this country and all who were faithful to me as a leader.