8. Saddam Hussein
Iraq
Years in Power: 1979-2003
We are continuing our list of most evil and hated dictators of all time with Saddam Hussein who was the President of Iraq. He rose to power in 1979 when he forced Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr to resign, but he had been the de facto leader of Iraq many years prior to this. The highlights of his rule are – the invasion of Iran in 1980 which resulted in a vicious, protracted 8-year war, and the Gulf War of 1990-91, both of which resulted in long lasting damage and an incredible loss of lives, with little achieved. The factors that provoked the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which eventually led to his forcible deposition, were his brutal approach towards political opponents, use of chemical weapons (particularly in the mass killing of Kurds in the al-Anfal campaign of 1988), and other violent crimes as well as Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction under his rule. He was captured and eventually executed in 2006 after being sentenced to death in a controversial trial.
