Editing Saddam Hussein (section)

=== Later years: 1990s to 2003 ===
{{Main|1991 Iraqi uprisings|Faith Campaign}}
[[File:Alkhoi-saddam.jpg|thumb|Saddam meeting Ayatollah [[Abu al-Qasim Khoei]] after the failure of the rebellions, 1991]]

Iraq's ethnic and religious divisions, together with the brutality of the conflict that this had engendered, laid the groundwork for postwar rebellions.<ref name=":8">{{cite news |last1=Moore |first1=Solomon |date=5 June 2006 |title=2 Mass Graves in Iraq Unearthed |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jun-05-fg-graves5-story.html |access-date=23 September 2018 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> In the aftermath of the fighting, social and ethnic unrest among Shi'ite Muslims, Kurds, and dissident military units threatened the stability of Saddam's government.<ref name=":8" /> Uprisings erupted in the north, south and central parts of Iraq, but were ruthlessly repressed.<ref name=":8" /> The [[1991 Iraqi uprisings|uprisings]] led to the death of 100,000–180,000 people, mostly civilians.<ref name=":8" /> The U.S., which had urged Iraqi people to rise up against Saddam, did nothing to assist the rebellions.<ref name="PIRRR" /><ref name=":8" /> Despite the widespread Shi'ite rebellions, Iran had no interest in provoking another war, while [[Turkey]] opposed any prospect of Kurdish independence, and the Saudi Arabia and other conservative Arab states feared an Iran-style Shi'ite revolution.<ref name="PIRRR" /><ref name=":8" /> Saddam, having survived the immediate crisis in the wake of defeat, was left firmly in control of Iraq, although the country never recovered either economically or militarily from the Gulf War, until a modest recovery recorded in the early 2000s.<ref name="PIRRR" />[[File:Saddam Hussein in 1996.png|thumb|Saddam on the state television about Saudi Arabia's decision to allow the stay of American troops in their land, 1996|left]]

Saddam routinely cited his survival as "proof" that Iraq had in fact won the war against the U.S.<ref name="PIRRR" /> This message earned Saddam a great deal of popularity in many sectors of the Arab world.<ref name="PIRRR" /> John Esposito wrote, "Arabs and Muslims were pulled in two directions. That they rallied not so much to Saddam Hussein as to the bipolar nature of the confrontation (the West versus the Arab Muslim world) and the issues that Saddam proclaimed: Arab unity, self-sufficiency, and social justice."<ref name="PIRRR" /> As a result, Saddam appealed to many people for the same reasons that attracted more and more followers to Islamic revivalism and also for the same reasons that fueled [[Anti-Western sentiment|anti-Western]] feelings.<ref name="PIRRR" />

To gain support from religious communities, Saddam initiated the [[Faith Campaign]] in 1993, which was under the supervision of vice president [[Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri]].<ref name="BBC-2000" /> Some elements of [[Sharia]] law were introduced, and the phrase "[[Allahu Akbar]]" ("God is great"), in Saddam's handwriting, was added to the national flag.<ref name="BBC-2000" /> Saddam also commissioned the production of a "[[Blood Qur'an]]", written using 27 litres of his own blood, to thank God for saving him from various dangers and conspiracies.<ref name="BBC-2000">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/monitoring/media_reports/941490.stm "Iraqi leader's Koran 'written in blood'"]. BBC News, 25 September 2000</ref> Under the campaign, numerous mosques and Islamic institutes were built across Iraq.<ref name="BBC-2000" />
The [[United Nations]]-placed [[sanctions against Iraq]] for invading Kuwait were not lifted, blocking Iraqi oil exports.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Review of Saddam's Iraq: Three Years after the Gulf War, Part II: Social and Economic Problems |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/review-saddams-iraq-three-years-after-gulf-war-part-ii-social-and-economic-problems |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=The Washington Institute |language=en}}</ref> Economic hardship followed within the country as GDP plummeted from US$44.36 billion in 1990 to US$9 billion by 1995.<ref name=":20">{{Cite web |date=2000-03-14 |title=Iraq: A decade of sanctions |url=https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/iraq-decade-sanctions |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=ReliefWeb |language=en}}</ref> Iraq had lost around US$170 billion of oil revenues.<ref name=":20" /> Sanctions also restricted basic-medical equipment and supplies from getting into Iraq.<ref>[https://enablingpeace.org/healthcare-in-crisis/ "Iraq's Public Healthcare System in Crisis"] Enabling Peace, Retrieved April 2024.</ref><ref name=":20" /> During the mid-1990s, the UN considered relaxing the sanctions imposed because of the hardships suffered by ordinary Iraqis.<ref name=":20" /> Studies dispute the number of people who died in south and central Iraq during the years of the sanctions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unicef.org/newsline/99pr29.htm|title=Iraq surveys show 'humanitarian emergency'|date=12 August 1999|access-date=29 November 2009|archive-date=6 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806193122/http://www.unicef.org/newsline/99pr29.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Spagat">{{cite journal |title=Truth and death in Iraq under sanctions |first=Michael |last=Spagat |date=September 2010 |journal=[[Significance (journal)|Significance]] |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=116–120 |doi=10.1111/j.1740-9713.2010.00437.x |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Rubin |first=Michael |title=Sanctions on Iraq: A Valid Anti-American Grievance? |journal=[[Middle East Review of International Affairs]] |volume=5 |issue=4 |url=http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/meria-rubin-sanctions-1201.htm |pages=100–115 |date=December 2001 |author-link=Michael Rubin (historian) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028003924/http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/meria-rubin-sanctions-1201.htm |archive-date=28 October 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dyson|first1=Tim|last2=Cetorelli|first2=Valeria|title=Changing views on child mortality and economic sanctions in Iraq: a history of lies, damned lies and statistics|journal=[[The BMJ|BMJ Global Health]]|language=en|volume=2|issue=2|date=24 July 2017|pages=e000311|doi=10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000311|pmid=29225933|issn=2059-7908|pmc=5717930}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Sly|first=Liz|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/04/saddam-hussein-said-sanctions-killed-500000-children-that-was-a-spectacular-lie/|title=Saddam Hussein said sanctions killed 500,000 children. That was 'a spectacular lie.'|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=4 August 2017|access-date=27 January 2022}}</ref> On 9 December 1996, Saddam's government accepted the [[Oil-for-Food Programme]] that the UN had first offered in 1992.<ref name=":20" />[[File:Saddam Hussein in 1998.jpg|left|thumb|Saddam on the occasion of 10th anniversary of the end of Iran-Iraq War, 1998]]

Relations with the U.S. remained tense following the war.<ref name=":9" /> The U.S. launched a [[1993 cruise missile strikes on Iraq|missile attack]] aimed at Iraq's intelligence headquarters in Baghdad on 26 June 1993, citing evidence of repeated violations of the "no fly zones" imposed after the war and for incursions into Kuwait.<ref name=":9" /> American officials continued to accuse Saddam of violating the terms of the Gulf War's ceasefire, by developing [[weapons of mass destruction]] and other banned weaponry, and violating the UN-imposed sanctions.<ref name=":9" /> [[Bill Clinton]] maintained sanctions and ordered [[1998 bombing of Iraq|air strikes]] in the "Iraqi no-fly zones", in the hope that Saddam would be overthrown by political enemies inside Iraq.<ref name=":9" /> Western charges of Iraqi resistance to U.N access to suspected weapons were the pretext for crises between 1997 and 1998, culminating in intensive U.S. and British missile strikes on Iraq, 16–19 December 1998.<ref name=":9" /> After two years of intermittent activity, U.S. and British warplanes [[February 2001 airstrike in Iraq|struck]] harder at sites near Baghdad in February 2001.<ref name=":26" /> Former CIA case officer [[Robert Baer]] reports that he "tried to assassinate" Saddam in 1995,<ref name=":9">{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/01/10/376096789/not-my-job-former-cia-officer-robert-baer-gets-quizzed-on-bears|title=Not My Job: Former CIA Officer Robert Baer Gets Quizzed On Bears|publisher=NPR|date=10 January 2015|access-date=29 September 2015}}</ref> amid "a decade-long effort to encourage a military coup in Iraq."<ref name=":26">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2003/05/16/the-cia-and-the-coup-that-wasnt/0abfb8fa-61e9-4159-a885-89b8c476b188/|title=The CIA And the Coup That Wasn't|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=16 May 2003|access-date=29 September 2015}}</ref>
By the end of 1990s, diplomatic isolation of Iraq with Arab states were gradually disappearing, and the economy of Iraq had improved by 2000, with its GDP increasing to $23.73 billion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 October 2009 |title=Saddam Gives Defiant Speech - 2001-01-17 |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2001-01-17-1-saddam-66959432/378246.html |access-date=13 July 2024 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mehdi |first=Abbas S. |date=22 June 2003 |title=The Iraqi Economy under Saddam Hussein: Development or Decline. |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=10611924&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA103799916&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |journal=Middle East Policy |language=English |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=139–142}}</ref> Saddam later decided to use [[Euro|Euros]], instead of [[United States dollar|U.S. dollars]] for Iraqi oil.<ref name="Islam 2003">{{Cite news |last1=Islam |first1=Faisal |date=16 February 2003 |title=Iraq nets handsome profit by dumping dollar for euro |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/feb/16/iraq.theeuro |access-date=13 July 2024 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref> Almost all of Iraq's oil exports under the Oil-for-food program were paid in Euros since 2001.<ref name="Islam 2003" /> Approximately 26 billion euros (£17.4bn) was paid for 3.3 billion barrels of oil into an escrow account in New York.<ref name="Islam 2003" />

==== Arab–Israeli conflict ====
{{Main|Israeli support for Iran during the Iran–Iraq war|1991 Iraqi missile attacks against Israel}}
[[File:Iraq, Saddam Hussein (222).jpg|thumb|Saddam addresses the Iraqi state television, in January 2001.]]
Saddam was widely known for his pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel stance.<ref name=":21">{{Cite web |date=2016-05-21 |title=Red fire on the mountain: Saddam Hussein's secrets still haunt the landscape |url=https://www.jpost.com/magazine/red-fire-on-the-mountain-452483 |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=The Jerusalem Post |language=en}}</ref> He appeared on television threatening to burn and destroy Israel.<ref name=":21" /> However, Saddam's official position was that the relations of Iraq with Israel will be determined by the solution accepted by Palestinians.<ref name=":21" /> Relations between Iraq and Egypt deteriorated in 1977, as a result of Egyptian President [[Anwar Sadat]]'s peace initiatives with [[Israel]].<ref name=":21" /> Relations improved after Egypt supported Iraq in the 1980–1988 war.<ref name=":21" /> During the Iran–Iraq War, Israel was one of the main [[Israeli support for Iran during the Iran–Iraq war|suppliers of military and intelligence support to Iran]]. In 1981, it carried out [[Operation Opera]], a surprise attack on Iraq's unfinished [[Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center|Osirak nuclear reactor]], with Iranian intelligence support.<ref>{{Citation |last=Kaye |first=Dalia Dassa |title=A Brief History of Israeli-Iranian Cooperation and Confrontation |date=2011 |work=Israel and Iran |pages=9–18 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/mg1143osd.7?seq=6 |access-date=2025-01-12 |series=A Dangerous Rivalry |publisher=RAND Corporation |doi=10.7249/mg1143osd.7?seq=6 |isbn=978-0-8330-5860-7 |last2=Nader |first2=Alireza |last3=Roshan |first3=Parisa}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Parsi |first=Trita |url=https://archive.org/details/treacherousallia00pars_0 |title=Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-300-12057-8 |language=en |url-access=registration}}</ref> Amid the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq initiated a [[1991 Iraqi missile attacks against Israel|missile campaign against Israel]].<ref name="Pierson 2011" />

Saddam supported various Palestinian guerrilla movements, provided financial support to Palestinians, and allowed Palestinian refugees in Iraq to obtain full citizenship rights, unlike the situation of Palestinians in other countries.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |last=Ibrahim |first=Arwa |title=The US-led war in Iraq and Saddam's Arab legacy |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/22/hldthe-us-led-invasion-of-iraq-and-saddams-arab-legacy |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref> Saddam maintained close relations with Palestinian leaders such as [[Yasser Arafat]].<ref name=":22" /> In May 2000, Saddam and his representatives allegedly had secret meetings with the Israeli government.<ref name="Burke 2000">{{Cite news |last1=Burke |first1=Jason |last2=Vulliamy |first2=Ed |last3=Beaver |first3=Paul |last4=York |first4=New |date=21 May 2000 |title=Saddam in secret talks with Israel |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/may/21/iraq.edvulliamy |access-date=18 August 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> He supposedly offered that Iraq will end its anti-Israel foreign policy if the issue of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon was resolved.<ref name="Burke 2000" /> However, this was later denied by the government.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-03-20 |title=Behind the Headlines; in Secret, Israel and Iraq Fostered Ties in Mid-1980s |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/behind-the-headlines-in-secret-israel-and-iraq-fostered-ties-in-mid-1980s |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref>

Following the outbreak of the [[Second Intifada]] in the [[Palestinian territories]], Saddam openly expressed solidarity with the Palestinians, and established the [[Jerusalem Army]], a volunteer force in solidarity with the Palestinians.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CNN.com - Saddam ends campaign for volunteers to fight Israel - November 10, 2000 |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/11/10/iraq.saddam.reut/index.html |access-date=13 July 2024 |website=CNN}}</ref><ref name="Brookings">{{Cite web |title=Who Will Fight for Saddam? |url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/who-will-fight-for-saddam/ |access-date=18 August 2024 |website=Brookings |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Thinking About the History of Militias in Iraq |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/thinking-about-history-militias-iraq |access-date=18 August 2024 |website=Wilson Center |date=3 December 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Saddam also provided financial assistance from Iraq's oil revenue, to the families of the Palestinian victims and militants.<ref name=":23" /> Around 20% of Iraq's oil revenue was directed to Palestinians.<ref name=":23">{{Cite web |date=10 December 2000 |title=Iraq pledges Palestinians billion euros from oil |url=https://gulfnews.com/uae/iraq-pledges-palestinians-billion-euros-from-oil-1.436565 |access-date=18 August 2024 |website=gulfnews.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Independent 2003">{{cite web |date=6 May 2003 |title=Palestinians mourn fall of their hero Saddam after flow of dollars for |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/palestinians-mourn-fall-of-their-hero-saddam-after-flow-of-dollars-for-martyrs-dries-up-103638.html |website=[[Independent.co.uk]]}}</ref> Contrary to the claims of the United States and the Israel, the financial support was not exclusively used to support suicide bombing.<ref name="Independent 2003" /> On the eve of [[Christmas]] in 2000, Saddam wrote a [[Open letter|public letter]] urging Muslims and Christians in Iraq to lead jihad against the Zionist movement.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 December 2000 |title=Saddam calls for jihad against Israel |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/dec/25/iraq |access-date=18 August 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> In 2001, Saddam declared on the state Iraqi television:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wistrich |first=Robert |title=Muslim Anti-Semitism: A Clear and Present Danger |year=2002 |pages=43}}</ref>{{Blockquote|text=Palestine is Arab and must be liberated [[from the river to the sea]] and all the [[Zionism|Zionists]] who emigrated to the land of Palestine must leave.|author=Saddam Hussein}}

In 2002, following an [[Operation Defensive Shield|Israeli offensive]] into Palestinian territory, Saddam stopped supplying oil to Western countries in order to force Israel to abandon its offensive, a move supported by [[Iran]] and [[Libya]].<ref>{{Cite news |last1=MacAskill |first1=Ewen |last2=Macalister |first2=Terry |date=9 April 2002 |title=Saddam chokes off oil to put pressure on west |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/09/iraq.oil |access-date=18 August 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>