Sad‧dam Hus‧sein /sæˌdæm hʊˈseɪn/
(1937–2006) the President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. He led Iraq in a war against Iran (1980–88), and in 1990 he tried to take control of Kuwait. This caused the first Gulf War, and Saddam's armies were forced to leave Kuwait by United Nations forces, led by the US. After the war, the UN demanded that its officials should be able to examine places where Iraqi weapons were made and stored. The US believed that Saddam was preventing them from doing this, so they led a coalition (=group of armies from different countries) which invaded Iraq in 2003 and took him prisoner. He was later put on trial by the Iraqi authorities for crimes against the Iraqi people. He was found guilty of crimes against humanity, sentenced to death, and executed in 2006.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲