IV.

Invasion and Defeat

Although links between Iraq and the perpetrators of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States remain highly speculative, the country was named as one member of an “axis of evil”—countries whose actions are seen as a threat to the United States and its allies—in the State of the Union address by President George W. Bush in January 2002. Hussein agreed to readmit weapons inspectors in November after a UN resolution called on Iraq to complete the process of disarmament. At the same time a build-up of US and British military forces in the region increased the pressure on the Iraqi regime. As the US administration moved closer to taking military action against Iraq without further UN support, Hussein divided Iraq into military regions under the command of his closest allies, including his sons Uday and Qusay. Ignoring an ultimatum from the US to leave Iraq, Hussein expressed his determination to fight any invasion. The opening bombardments by US forces on March 20, 2003 failed to dislodge him from power. Nevertheless, forces loyal to Hussein’s regime were unable to resist the entry and occupation of Baghdad by US troops in early April, effectively bringing to an end the rule of the Baath Party (see War on Iraq). In July both Uday and Qusay died during an assault by US forces on the northern city of Mosul.

In December, Hussein himself was captured by US soldiers after he was found hiding in a farmhouse near his home town of Tikrit. He was finally put on trial in October 2005 before a specially established Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal. He was found guilty of crimes against humanity in November 2006, in a case pertaining to the killing in 1982 of 148 people in the Shiite town of Dujail, and was sentenced to death by hanging. Although a second trial, concerning the alleged genocide committed against the Kurdish population during the Anfal campaign in 1988, was underway, Saddam Hussein was hanged on December 30.