OK, CarolC, here is the timeline of Saddam Hussein's life. Please point out the following:
         1. When he was a nice guy.
         2. When the US forced him to become a thug.
         3. When we bought him.
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Saddam Hussein

28 April 1937 Saddam Hussein was born in the village Al-Awja near Tikrit, Iraq, north of Baghdad. He was sent to live with    his maternal uncle soon after he was born. During his early years, reports have linked Saddam to the murders of a school teacher and/or a cousin.

1955 Saddam moved to Baghdad.

1956 Saddam joined the Arab Baath Socialist Party.

1957 Saddam was denied the admission to the Baghdad Military Academy. He joins the underground Baath Socialist Party.

1958 Saddam married Sajida. He is arrested for killing his brother-in-law and spends six months in prison.

7 October 1959 Saddam was a member of a Baath assassination team which attempted to assassinate the Prime Minister of Iraq, Gen. Abdel-Karim Kassem. Shot in the leg by the prime minister's bodyguard, Saddam fled to Syria, then Egypt.

25 February 1960 After being tried in absentia, Saddam was sentenced to death.

1962 Saddam completed his secondary studies.

1962-1963 Saddam studied law in Cairo, but he did not complete it.

8 February 1963 Saddam returned to Iraq after the Ramadan Revolution.

November 1963 The new regime was ousted by a military coup.

14 October 1964 Saddam was arrested for charges accusing him of rebelling against the regime. He remained in prison until his escape in 1967.

September 1966 While in prison, Saddam was elected the Deputy Secretary General of the Baath Party Leadership.

1967 Saddam escaped from prison.

July 1968 Saddam participated in a coup in which Baathists and army officers overthrew the Iraqi regime.

1968 Saddam graduated from the College of Law.

30 July 1968 Saddam took charge of internal security after Baath Party consolidated its power and authority passed to the Revolutionary Command Council, led by Saddam's cousin, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr.

9 November 1969 Saddam was elected the Vice-chairman of the Revolution Command Council.

1 June 1972 Saddam nationalized all of the oil companies in Iraq.

1 July 1973 Saddam was dubbed the rank of Lieutenant general and the Rafadain Order, First Class.

11 March 1974 Saddam helped to implement the Autonomy Law for Iraqi Kurdish Citizens. The Kurds were forced to go to Iran.

1 February 1976 Saddam was awarded M.A. Honors Degree in Military Sciences

late 1970s As Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr's health failed, Saddam emerged as the de facto leader of Iraq.

8 October 1977 Saddam was elected the Assistant Secretary General of the National Pan-Arab Leadership of the Baath Party.
1979 Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr negotiated with Syria to unify Iraq and Syria. Syrian President Hafez al-Assad would have become deputy leader of the new union, leaving Saddam's political future uncertain.

16 July 1979 Saddam forced Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr to resign and was elected as the President of Iraq and as the Chairman of Revolution Command Council.

17 July 1979 Saddam was promoted to the rank of Field Marshall.

22 July 1979 Saddam convened an assembly of Baath leaders. A list of potential opponents to Saddam was read. Those on the list were branded disloyal, removed from the assembly, and shot.

8 October 1979 Saddam was elected Deputy Secretary General of the Pan-Arab Leadership of the Baath party.

4 September 1980 Saddam initiated a war with Iran, seeking to obtain Iranian oil reserves.

1982 Former President Bakr died mysteriously. It was widely suspected that Saddam was involved.

30 July 1983 Saddam was dubbed the Revolution Order, First Class.

1984 Saddam was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of Baghdad.

1987-1988 Saddam launched the Anfal Campaign against the Kurds. 180,000 Kurds disappeared and 4,000 villages were destroyed.

28 April 1988 Saddam was dubbed the Order of the People.

28 March 1988 The Kurdish town, Halabaja, was gassed. 5,000 people were killed and 10,000 were injured.

8 August 1988 Saddam agreed to a cease-fire with Iran. Iraq won the conflict.

August 1988 Many Kurdish villages on the Turkish border were gassed. Thousands of people died.

2 August 1990 Saddam seized Kuwait.

16 January 1991 The United States began bombing Baghdad in response to Saddam not turning over Kuwait.

February 1991 The Persian Gulf War ended. President George Bush of the United States declared a cease-fire.

March 1991 Saddam's regime crushes a Kurdish revolt in northern Iraq and a Shiite revolt in the south.

1993 Saddam broke the peace terms from the end of the Persian Gulf War. The United States bombed Iraq as a result.

29 September 1998 The United States passed the Iraq Liberation Act. The Act stated that they wanted to remove Saddam Hussein from office and replace the government with a democratic institution.

October 1998 Saddam failed to comply with the united Nations weapons inspectors. This action led to a four-day bombing raid by the United States.

16-19 December 1998 The United Nations pulled their workers out of Iraq. The United States and the United Kingdom began air raids on Iraq called Operation Desert Fox.

1999 Throughout the year continual air strikes hit Iraq.

2000 It is reported that Saddam has used humanitarian funds to build presidential palaces and for other personal enrichment items.

2002 The United States began to initiate a plan to overthrow Saddam.

8 November 2002 UN Security Council resolution threatens "serious consequences" if Iraq refuses to disarm.

27 November 2002 Saddam allows the United Nations weapons inspectors to return to Iraq.

7 December 2002 Iraq delivers to the United Nations a declaration denying it has weapons of mass destruction.

January 2003 Other Arab leaders in the middle east request that Saddam Hussein go into exile to avoid war with the United States.

February 2003 Saddam Hussein interviewed with news reporter, Dan Rather. Saddam said that he would not go into exile and that he would not surrender in a possible war. He claimed that Iraq does not have any weapons that go against UN resolutions.

17 March 2003 United States President George W. Bush gave Saddam an ultimatum. Either he leave Iraq within 48 hours with his sons or the United States would pursue military action.

18 March 2003 Iraqi leadership rejects US ultimatum.

19 March 2003 The United States and other coalition forces started Operation Iraqi Freedom in an effort to remove Saddam Hussein and his regime from power.

24 March 2003 Saddam delivered a defiant speech on Iraqi television trying to rally his troops and unite his people in the war against the United States.

End of March 2003 Saddam Hussein made various television speeches that had been pre-recorded. Many analysts believed that they had been recorded before the war even started, because he did not reference any of the specific war activities.

4 April 2003 Saddam made a televised appearance and finally referenced specific details of the war. He called on the Iraqis to hit the coalition forces hard.

9 April 2003 Jubilant crowds greet US troops in Baghdad, then topple a large statue of Saddam.

7 May 2003 A tape thought to be Saddam Hussein was made public. It called on the Iraqi citizens to reject the visitors and to overhtorw the Americans.

July 2003 US forces raid locations in Mosul and Tikrit, then report missing Saddam by "a matter of hours."

13 December 2003 Saddam is captured at 8:30 p.m. in Adwar, ten miles south of Tikrit, while hiding in a specially prepared "spider hole."