Editing Saddam Hussein (section)

=== Foreign relations ===
{{See also|Foreign relations of Iraq|List of international trips made by Saddam Hussein}}

Saddam sought to have Iraq play a leading role in the Middle East.<ref name="Healy">Healy, Jack. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/world/middleeast/27iraq.html?ref=world Iraq Court Sentences Tariq Aziz to Death]." ''[[The New York Times]]''. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2010.</ref> In 1972, Saddam signed a 15-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the [[Soviet Union]]. Arms were sent along with several thousand advisers. According to historian [[Charles R. H. Tripp]], the treaty upset "the US-sponsored security system established as part of the [[Cold War]] in the Middle East. It appeared that any enemy of the Baghdad regime was a potential ally of the United States."<ref name="Tripp">{{cite book |last=Tripp |first=Charles |author-link=Charles R. H. Tripp |title=A History of Iraq |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-87823-4 |pages=xii, 211–214}}</ref> In response, the US covertly financed Kurdish rebels led by [[Mustafa Barzani]] during the [[Second Iraqi–Kurdish War]]; the Kurds were defeated in 1975, leading to the forcible relocation of hundreds of thousands of Kurdish civilians.<ref name="Tripp" /> A 1978 crackdown on [[Iraqi Communist Party|Iraqi Communists]] and a shift of trade toward the West strained Iraqi relations with the Soviet Union; Iraq then took on a more Western orientation until the [[Gulf War]] in 1991.<ref>Helen Chapin Metz (ed) ''[http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/iqtoc.html Iraq: A Country Study:]'' "[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+iq0083) The West"], [[Library of Congress Country Studies]], 1988</ref>

After the [[1973 oil crisis|oil crisis]] of 1973, France had changed to a more pro-Arab policy and was accordingly rewarded by Saddam with closer ties. Saddam's rare trips abroad included many Western countries. His visit to Spain took place in December 1974, when the [[Caudillo]] of Spain, [[Francisco Franco]], invited him to [[Madrid]] and he visited [[Granada]], [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] and [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 March 2003 |title=Reportaje &#124; El obsequio de Sadam a Franco |url=https://elpais.com/diario/2003/03/02/domingo/1046580756_850215.html |newspaper=El País}}</ref> In September 1975 he met with Prime Minister [[Jacques Chirac]] in [[Paris]], France.<ref name="The Chirac Doctrine">{{cite journal |last1=Guitta |first1=Olivier |date=Fall 2005 |title=The Chirac Doctrine |url=http://www.meforum.org/772/the-chirac-doctrine |journal=The Middle East Quarterly}}</ref> Saddam's 1975 visit further cemented close ties with French business and ruling political circles.[[File:Arab Summit 1978.jpg|thumb|upright=1.20|left|Saddam and [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr|al-Bakr]], [[de jure]] president of Iraq alongside [[Hafez al-Assad]] of Syria at an [[1978 Arab League summit|Arab League summit]] in Baghdad in November 1978]]Iraq's relations with the Arab world have been extremely varied. Relations between Iraq and Egypt violently ruptured in 1977, when the two nations broke relations with each other following Iraq's criticism of Egyptian President [[Anwar Sadat]]'s peace initiatives with [[Israel]]. In 1978, Baghdad hosted an [[1978 Arab League summit|Arab League summit]] that condemned and ostracized Egypt for accepting the [[Camp David Accords]]. Saddam led Arab opposition to the Camp David Accords.

==== Peace treaty with Iran ====
{{Main|1975 Algiers Agreement}}

[[File:Saddam_&_Shah_(1975).png|thumb|Saddam and Reza Shah during the Algiers agreement]]
Iran and Iraq had been engaged in a long-standing territorial dispute over the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which serves as the border between the two countries.<ref name="aljazeera.com-2" /> Iran had backed Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq.<ref name="aljazeera.com-2" /> A peace treaty, which aimed to address the Shatt al-Arab dispute, was signed in 1975.<ref name="aljazeera.com-2">{{Cite web |title=Timeline: Iran-Arab relations |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2009/4/13/timeline-iran-arab-relations |access-date=21 March 2024 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref> The 1975 Algiers Agreement, also known as the Algiers Accord, was a significant diplomatic agreement signed between Iran and Iraq on 6 March 1975, to settle border disputes and improve bilateral relations.<ref name="aljazeera.com-2" /> It was mediated by the then president of [[Algeria]], [[Houari Boumediene]].<ref name="aljazeera.com-2" /> Under the accord, Iraq was granted sovereignty over the eastern bank of the waterway, while Iran retained control over the western bank.<ref name="aljazeera.com-2" /> Following the agreement, Iraq and Iran restored full diplomatic relations and exchanged ambassadors, representing a significant diplomatic breakthrough.<ref name="aljazeera.com-2" /> The Shah withdrew support of the Kurds, who were promptly defeated by the Iraqis during the [[Second Iraqi–Kurdish War|Second Iraqi-Kurdish War]].