On March 19, 2003, United States and British forces began military operations in Iraq. While addressing the nation about the purpose of the war on the day the bombing began, President George W. Bush said, "The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder." In order to grasp a better perception of the situation in Iraq, it is necessary to understand and examine some of the key figures and events leading to our current occupation of Iraq. Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, had the notorious distinction of being the world's best known and most hated Arab leader, who was willing to sacrifice his own country rather than relinquish power in Baghdad. His invasion of Kuwait triggered a United States response resulting in Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990's. The September 11th attacks on US soil led the United States into the war on terrorism, which later brought attention to the violation of UN regulation in Iraq. Through out this paper I hope to reflect how Saddam Hussein, Desert Storm, and the terrorist attacks on 9-11 all led us to our current conflict with Iraq.
             Saddam Hussein, the man who became known as the enemy of the Western world, was born on April 28, 1937, in a village just outside Tikrit, Iraq. Although his parents were poor farmers, Hussein was inspired by his uncle Khayrallah Tuffah, an Iraqi army officer, to pursue a career in politics. In 1956, at the age of 19, he joined the Arab Baath Socialist Party (A.B.S.P.) and attempted to assassinate Iraqi Prime Minister Abudul Karim Qassim three years later in 1959. During this failed attempt, Hussein was shot in the leg and was forced to flee the country for several years in order to avoid a death sentence. Hussein first escaped to Syria then to Egypt, where he completed his secondary schooling in 1962. He was admitted into the...