Historical Background:

8. In 1980, Saddam started a war with Iran, violating the International Law by ignoring the 1975 boarders agreement signed by the two countries. In 1988, he used chemical weapons against his own people residing “Halebche”, a Kurdish village in northern Iraq, only for expressing a desire to separate from Iraq and have their own independent state.Moreover, on Thursday, August 2nd, 1990, Saddam invaded neighboring Arab State of kuwait, violating not only international law, but causing a devastating blow to Arabism and Islam. By this, he also contardicted a major concept and belief of his Baathist ideology, which emphasizes and strongly highlights support and solidarity with Arab countries, in general.

9. Furthermore, Saddam challenged a United Nations Resolution by preventing UN inspectors from searching for biological and chemical weapons in a number of sites in Iraq. However, UN President Kofi Anan's extended diplomatic efforts convinced Saddam to abide by the UN Resolution and saved the world from a destructive, massive war, earlier in 1998.

An Analasys of Saddam's Personality:(Psychological terms of some Modern theories of Personalities are used and based on the information included in the Biography and Historical Background mentioned above)

10. Saddam developed basic anxiety and hostility due to the inadequate parenting of a mother who was busy looking for a husband, a father who has never shown up and a step father who was rejective and hateful.The incident of Saddam's leaving his home and running away at the age of 10 indicates that he chose the "moving away strategy" and adapted the "resignation solution", seeking freedom and putting an end to his suffering from his step-father. As he grew older he adapted the “expansive solution”, seeking mastery even if it impedes close relations with others; (e.g Halebche, Iran, and Kuwait). The "expansive solution" became a significant characteristic of Saddam's personality. It is evidenced in many incidents, including killing one of his relatives for the sake of his uncle to receive praise and obtain power, and participating in the assassination attempt against Iraqi President, Qasim, in 1959. Moreover, his thirst for power, recognition and admiration was reached by leading the “Baath” party and becoming President of Iraq. Saddam represents a type who seems to live by the motto “ if I have power no one can hurt me". Power and mastery seem to offer Saddam protection from the vulnerability of being helpless; the tragedy of Halebche, Iraqi- Iranian war, and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait are good examples of this.

11. Pride is an essential characteristic of an aggressive type person and this explains why Saddam always emphasizes the pride of Iraqi people during his meetings or negotiations with international representatives. In addition, power makes love seems unnecessary weakness for Saddam and similar dictators. This is quite obvious when he killed his cousin Adnaan Khairallah, ignoring the fact that he was the one who informed him about the importance of education and hosted him in his family house in Baghdad.