Saddam Hussein’s time in power saw wars, chemical attacks, and brutal punishments.
But after years of dictatorship, everything changed when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
After the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003, Saddam Hussein disappeared.
He escaped capture by going into hiding somewhere in central Iraq.
For nearly eight months, he stayed on the move.
He traveled between safe houses and stayed with people who were still loyal to him.
He stayed mostly near Tikrit, his hometown, which is in the Salah al-Din province.
The U.S.
military, along with CIA agents and Iraqi informants, worked day and night to track him down.
They captured and questioned several people close to him.
Each arrest brought them a little closer.
U.S.
forces believed Saddam was hiding in a small area near the Tigris River, so they focused their search around the towns of ad-Dawr, Samarra, and Tikrit.
Finally, on the night of December 13, 2003, they launched a mission called Operation Red Dawn.
It was named after a 1984 American war movie.
Two specific sites were targeted during the operation, code-named “Wolverine 1” and “Wolverine 2”.
These were farmhouses near ad-Dawr, about 15 kilometers south of Tikrit.
About 600 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division and Task Force 121, a group made up of special operations units, took part in the raid.
The troops used helicopters, armored vehicles, and intelligence from local sources.
One of Saddam’s former bodyguards finally gave up his location.
When the troops searched a small walled compound, they found a hole in the ground.
It was hidden under a pile of bricks and dirt.
The hole was about 6 to 8 feet deep, only big enough for one man to lie down inside.
This hiding spot became known around the world as a “spider hole.
” Inside the hole, they found Saddam Hussein.
He looked thin and weak.
His hair was messy, and his beard had grown long and gray.
He had a flashlight, a pistol, and a sack of $750,000 in U.
S.
cash.
There were also two AK-47 rifles nearby, but he didn’t use them.
He didn’t try to fight or run.
He was quickly pulled out, handcuffed, and taken into custody.
Right after his capture, Saddam was taken to Camp Cropper, a U.
S.
military prison near Baghdad International Airport.
This was a high-security facility used to hold important prisoners.
Saddam was given the code name “High Value Detainee #1”.
He stayed in a very small cell.
The room had only the basics, a metal bed with a thin mattress, a small sink, a toilet, and a light that never turned off.
The U.
S.
military kept the light on 24 hours a day to monitor him at all times.
Cameras and guards watched him closely.
He wasn’t allowed to speak to other prisoners.
Saddam spent most of his time alone.
He was allowed to walk outside in a small yard for one hour a day.
He used that time to exercise and get fresh air.
He was also allowed to have a few books in Arabic, including the Quran, which he read often.
He spent a lot of time writing letters and notes.
Some of them were sent to his daughters, who were living in Jordan.
American officials and intelligence officers questioned him many times.
One of them was FBI agent George Piro, who spent months interviewing Saddam in 2004.
Piro later said Saddam was calm and smart.
He often tried to control the conversation.
Saddam didn’t show guilt or fear.
He believed that history would see him as a great leader, not a criminal.
Saddam also met with his lawyers from time to time.
His legal team included people from Iraq and other countries.
He still called himself the president of Iraq and refused to admit he had done anything wrong.
He said he was defending his country from enemies.
Even while locked up, he acted like he was still in charge.
During this time, Iraq was going through big changes.
The old Ba’ath Party was gone.
A new government was being formed with help from the U.
S.
On June 28, 2004, the U.
S.
officially handed over legal custody of Saddam to the Iraqi Interim Government, led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
This meant that Iraq’s new legal system was now in charge of Saddam’s case.
But there was a catch.
Even though Iraq had legal control, Sa
ddam stayed in U.
S.
military hands for his safety.
The Americans were afraid he might be attacked by people inside Iraq who hated him, or even by people who still supported him and wanted to help him escape.
After nearly two years in prison, Saddam Hussein finally went on trial.
The court was called the Iraqi Special Tribunal, and it was set up to deal with crimes committed by Saddam and other top officials of his regime.
The trial officially started on October 19, 2005, and took place inside the Green Zone in Baghdad, which was the heavily guarded area used by U.
S.
and Iraqi government forces.
The main charge in this first trial was about what happened in the town of Dujail in 1982.
Dujail was a small Shia Muslim town located about 60 kilometers north of Baghdad.
That year, Saddam visited the town.
During the visit, some members of a Shia group tried to assassinate him.
They fired at his convoy, but he survived the attack.
Saddam was furious.
After the attempt, Saddam ordered a brutal response.
Security forces, led by Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam’s half-brother and head of Iraqi intelligence at the time, arrested hundreds of people in the town.
Many of them were just young boys or elderly men.
They were accused of being part of the assassination plot, even if there was no proof.
Out of those arrested, 148 men and boys were sentenced to death.
Most were executed in the following years.
Many others were sent to Abu Ghraib prison, where they were tortured or simply disappeared.
Their homes and farms were also destroyed.
The whole town was punished.
The court charged Saddam with crimes against humanity for this massacre.
This charge meant he had ordered mass killings and torture against civilians.
Alongside him, seven other officials were also on trial.
These included Barzan al-Tikriti, Taha Yassin Ramadan, his former vice president, and some local Ba’ath Party leaders from the Dujail area.
The trial was a big moment for Iraq.
It was the first time in the country’s modern history that a ruler was being held responsible for his actions in front of a court.
The trial was televised, and millions of Iraqis watched it live.
They saw Saddam wearing a suit, sitting inside a wooden box surrounded by guards.
But Saddam did not act like a normal defendant.
He often yelled in court, interrupted the judges, and gave angry speeches.
He refused to call the judges real judges.
He called them “traitors” and said the court was illegal because it was formed during the U.
S.
occupation.
He said he was still the president of Iraq and didn’t accept the authority of the new government.
Sometimes, Saddam would stand up and wave at the cameras.
He also argued with the prosecutors and claimed he had every right to punish those who tried to kill him.
He said he was protecting Iraq from terrorists.
He was very confident, even though he was no longer in power.
The judges also faced big problems.
Many of them got threats, and some even had to quit.
One of the first judges, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, resigned in early 2006 because he was under too much pressure.
The next chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, was more strict and tried to keep control of the courtroom.
Even with all the shouting and drama, the trial kept moving forward.
Witnesses came forward.
Survivors from Dujail told their stories.
Some spoke about the torture, the executions, and the loss of their families.
Documents were shown in court that had Saddam’s own signature approving the deaths.
After over a year of trial, the verdict was announced on November 5, 2006.
Saddam Hussein was found guilty of ordering the Dujail killings.
He was sentenced to death by hanging.
Saddam didn’t show much fear during the verdict.
He raised his fist and said he was not afraid to die.
He still believed he was Iraq’s true leader.
After the sentence was announced, his legal team quickly filed an appeal.
They hoped the sentence would be overturned or at least delayed.
The appeal went to the Iraqi Appeals Court, which reviewed the original trial and the evidence again.
The court took several weeks to go over everything.
But on December 26, 2006, the Iraqi Appeals Court announced its final decision: Saddam Hussein’s death sentence was confirmed.
The court said that Saddam was guilty of crimes against humanity and that the original sentence must be carried out.
There would be no further delay.
The verdict was now final.
According to Iraqi law, once a death sentence is approved by the Appeals Court, the execution must happen within 30 days.
But the Iraqi government didn’t want to wait that long.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who led the Shia-majority government, made it clear that Saddam would be executed as soon as possible.
At that time, the Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha was coming up.
This holiday is a major religious celebration for Muslims, often involving prayer, charity, and time with family.
That year in 2006, Eid al-Adha was expected to begin on December 31 or January 1, depending on the moon sighting.
The Iraqi government believed that executing Saddam before the holiday would send a strong message.
They thought it would give a sense of closure to victims of Saddam’s regime.
They also wanted to show that the new Iraqi state had power and control.
So, right after the court’s decision, plans for the execution moved very fast.
Iraqi officials, along with U.
S.
military personnel who still had physical custody of Saddam, began working closely to arrange the transfer and carry out the hanging.
Legal documents were signed.
Security was tightened at key locations, including the prison and the site where the execution would happen.
Everything had to be prepared carefully.
The execution team was chosen.
Judges and witnesses were contacted.
Saddam himself was informed that his appeal had failed.
Now, he knew that death was near.
On the night of December 29, while still being held at Camp Cropper, a U.
S.
military prison near Baghdad International Airport, he was finally told that his execution would happen the next morning.
This was the last night of his life.
Saddam was now 69 years old, and after ruling Iraq for nearly 24 years, he was going to die by hanging.
That night, Saddam remained calm, but he became very quiet.
He didn’t yell or argue anymore.
People who saw him said he looked peaceful but also resigned, he knew this was the end.
He did not cry or beg for mercy.
He spent the last few hours praying, reading the Quran, and writing letters.
One of those letters was to his family, and in it, he said goodbye.
He gave his last will to one of his lawyers, asking for a simple Islamic burial in his hometown of al-Awja, which is near Tikrit, the same town where he was born.
Saddam asked to be buried next to his sons Uday and Qusay, who had been killed by U.
S.
forces back in 2003 during a gunfight in Mosul.
He didn’t make any final requests for forgiveness.
He didn’t express regret for the things he had done while in power.
That night, the prison was very quiet.
American soldiers stood guard.
Iraqi officials started preparing for the final step, transferring Saddam for the execution.
According to Iraqi law, the hanging had to happen before sunrise.
In the early mo
rning of December 30, 2006, around 3:00 a.
m.
, Saddam Hussein was officially handed over from U.
S.
custody to the Iraqi government.
This was a legal step.
A signed document confirmed the transfer.
After this, the Americans no longer had control over Saddam.
Saddam was taken from Camp Cropper and driven under heavy security to the Iraqi Military Intelligence headquarters.
This building was in the Kadhimiya district of Baghdad.
It had been turned into an execution site after Saddam’s government was removed.
The building was surrounded by armed guards.
No outsiders were allowed near.
Inside, everything was ready: the wooden platform, the noose, and the gallows.
There were many people waiting in the room.
There were Iraqi judges who had worked on his trial.
Some government officials from the Ministry of Justice were there.
Religious clerics had arrived too.
The executioners were present and prepared.
Also in the room were a few men who had lost family members because of Saddam’s actions, especially from the town of Dujail.
Saddam was dressed in a white shirt, a dark overcoat, and slippers.
His hands were tied behind his back.
Before the hanging, he was offered a black hood to cover his face, which is normally used in executions.
Saddam refused it.
He said he wanted to face death with his eyes open.
At around 5:50 a.
m.
, Saddam started walking toward the gallows.
There were 13 steps leading up to the hanging platform.
He climbed the stairs slowly, without help.
When he reached the top, the executioner put the noose around his neck.
As this was happening, some people in the room started shouting angrily.
A few yelled the name of Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shia cleric whose father, Mohammad Sadiq al-Sadr, had been murdered by Saddam’s forces back in 1999.
Others cursed Saddam.
Saddam did not fight back or yell.
He told the people not to behave like this.
He reminded them that this was supposed to be a legal moment of justice, not a moment of revenge.
Then, he began to say a prayer.
It was the shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith.
But before he could finish the second line, the trapdoor beneath his feet opened suddenly.
At exactly 6:00 a.
m.
local time, Saddam Hussein was hanged.
His body fell through the trapdoor.
The rope around his neck went tight.
His neck broke instantly.
A doctor later confirmed that Saddam had died within seconds of the fall.
His body remained hanging for several minutes.
This was part of the standard procedure, to make sure that death was certain.
Iraqi medical staff checked his body carefully and confirmed again that he was dead.
Saddam’s body was flown to al-Awja.
He was buried in a simple tomb inside a mosque he had built.
On December 31, family members and tribal leaders attended the burial.
The Iraqi government allowed it to avoid more conflict.
Just hours after the hanging, a mobile phone video leaked online.
It showed people mocking Saddam in his final moments.
Some chanted political slogans.
Others laughed.
Many Iraqis, even those who hated Saddam, were shocked.
They said the execution felt like revenge, not justice.
The United Nations and human rights groups also criticized the way the execution was handled.
They said it was unprofessional and dishonored the legal process.
People around the world had very different opinions.
Many believed Saddam deserved to die for the terrible things he did while in power.
One of the most horrible examples was the Halabja gas attack in March 1988.
Saddam’s forces used chemical weapons on the Kurdish town of Halabja.
Around 5,000 civilians were killed, including women and children.
Thousands more were injured.
It was one of the worst chemical attacks on civilians in history.
Then there was the Dujail massacre in 1982, which was the focus of his trial.
Saddam also led Iraq into two deadly wars.
The Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988 killed around 1 million people.
Then, in 1990, he invaded Kuwait, starting the Gulf War.
That war brought international attacks on Iraq and left the country weak and broken.
These wars, combined with brutal crackdowns on anyone who spoke against Saddam, made life in Iraq very hard for many people.
So for some, Saddam’s execution felt like justice.
They saw it as the final punishment for a man who had caused so much pain and death.
Victims’ families, especially Kurds and Shia Muslims who had suffered the most, said they finally got some closure.
But not everyone agreed.
Some felt the trial was rushed and unfair.
Critics said it was more about revenge than true justice.
They pointed out how Saddam was shouted at during his execution, and how the video of the hanging was leaked and used to stir emotions.
It didn’t look like a peaceful or respectful legal process.
Some international lawyers and human rights groups believed the trial did not meet fair standards.
Even more troubling was what happened after Saddam’s death.
Many thought his removal would bring peace, but Iraq became even more divided.
Saddam was a Sunni Muslim, and after he was gone, Shia groups gained more power.
This led to major sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias.
The fighting got worse year after year.
Groups like al-Qaeda in Iraq used the chaos to spread terror.
Later, al-Qaeda turned into something even more dangerous, ISIS.
ISIS took over large parts of Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2017, bringing more war, death, and destruction.
So, while Saddam Hussein was gone, Iraq did not become peaceful or united.
The violence continued, and the country struggled with terrorism, weak leadership, and deep divisions.
For some, he got what he deserved.
For others, his execution opened the door to even more suffering.
