Saddam Hussein was the 5th President of Iraq, serving from July 16, 1979 to April 9, 2003. He also held the position of prime minister from 1979 to 1991. He rose to power as a leader of the revolutionary Baath Party, which organized an overthrow of General Abd al-Karim Qasim in 1968. Hussein was deposed by the invading multi-national force (led by the U.S.) in 2003. He was captured on December 14, 2003 and executed by hanging in 2006 after being found guilty of "crimes against humanity."CNN: Hussein Executed With 'Fear in His Face' (December 30, 2006)

Hussein joined the Baath party in 1963, while in college.BBC News: Saddam Hussein Profile

After the Baaths took control of the government in 1963, Hussein rose quickly through the ranks. On June 1, 1972, now sitting at the head of the party, Hussein nationalized Iraq's oil reserves.The Christian Science Monitor: Saddam Hussein: 'Not a Lunatic' (October 23, 2002) He continually worked to consolidate his power, and on July 16, 1979, officially assumed the position of Iraqi President.BBC News: Saddam Hussein Profile

Hussein's government was based on the "cult of personality" he had established around himself in place of the strictly religious authorities to which most Iraqi citizens answered.Global Policy Forum: Sectarianism He presided over an ethnically divided nation, and used his power to hold it together. Hussein favored Iraq's Sunni population and oppressed the country's Shiite and Kurdish populations.Global Policy Forum: Sectarianism

Much of his administration was consumed with fighting a war with Iran, which raged from September 22, 1980 to August 20, 1988 and essentially bankrupted the country. Hoping to claim the neighboring country's oil reserves for his own, Hussein initiated an invasion of Kuwait in 1990, only to be repelled by an international coalition in 1991 during the First Gulf War.BBC News: Saddam Hussein Profile

Hussein's government effectively collapsed shortly after the March 20, 2003 invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition led by U.S. General Tommy Franks. He disappeared before the fall of Baghdad in early April of that year and was found hiding in a farm near Tikrit on December 14, 2003. His sons Uday and Qusay and grandson Mustapha were killed during a fight with U.S. forces on July 2003.

Hussein was put on trial in Iraq by a special tribunal, specifically for actions taken against citizens of Dujail in 1982 as punishment for a planned assassination attempt. He was found guilty of crimes against humanity and executed via hanging on December 30, 2006. The execution was videotaped and replayed all around the world, and the Iraqi government was criticized strongly for the secretive and unprofessional manner in which the hanging was conducted.BBC News: Saddam Hussein Profile

By most accounts, Hussein was a brutal dictator who ruled over his people using fear and the threat of violence. He is known to have used chemical weapons on the Kurdish populations living in the northern region of the country.CNN.com: 'Idealist' Tried to Halt Saddam's Kurdish Slaughter (December 4, 2008)