Iraq/Kuwait - Saddam Hussein Profile

(13 Oct 1995) T/I: 10:07:26 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who is holding a referendum on his presidency on Sunday (15/10) has ruled Iraq for 17 years. The 58-year-old Saddam joined the Iraqi Ba’th Party in 1957, and two years later, fled to Cairo as a poltical refugee after participating in an attempt to assassinate President Abdul Karim Qasim. He returned to Iraq in 1963 when the Iraqi Ba’th Party came to power. The Ba’th Party was ousted by the Nasserites, and Saddam was arrested in 1964 after participating in a failed coup attempt against President Abdul Salam Aref. The Ba’th Party regained power in 1968, and Saddam took charge of a secret security apparatus. He eventually joined the Revolutionary Command Council, which was Iraq’s highest governing body, gradually becoming the second man after President Ahmad Hassan el-Bakr, to whom he was related. In the late 1970’s el-Bakr became a nominal president as Saddam became the real ruler. In July 1979, el-Bakr handed over the presidency and