Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was facing the biggest challenge of his life on Saturday as reports indicated that US troops were within the city of Baghdad.
Saddam was born near Tikrit in Northwest Iraq in 1937. He became involved in the Arab nationalist movement in 1945 and joined the Baath Party in 1957. From 1959 to 1963 he stayed in Egypt after being involved in an attempt to kill Iraq's first Prime Minister Abdel Karim Kassem. He returned to Iraq in 1963 when the Baath Party seized power in a military coup. In the same year, he married his cousin Sajida Tolfah. He was soon the vice-president of Iraq and in 1979 he became the president of Iraq.
Saddam called a national election in 1980, Iraq's first in 22 years. The move followed a period of relative stability, which left Saddam's leadership unchallenged in the poll.
In September 1980, Saddam invaded Iran. The war dragged on for 8 years, during which Iraqi forces were forced to be withdrawn once in 1982. Saddam proposed peace with Iran in 1988, on the 30th anniversary of the revolution that toppled the Iraqi monarchy.
War debt and the need to push up oil prices as well as Saddam's belief that wealthy Kuwait would be an easy prey led him to invade Kuwait in 1990. Iraqi forces were forced out of Kuwait at the end of the six-week Gulf War.
Saddam survived despite attempts to unseat him after the Gulf War. In 1998, a visit by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to Baghdad resulted in an agreement allowing UN weapons inspectors unrestricted access to suspect sites. However, in December Saddam refused further cooperation with the UN and the inspectors were withdrawn from Iraq hours before the US and Britain began four months of air strikes.
US president George W. Bush entered the White House in January 2001, and by April the administration was pushing for a regime change in Iraq. In October 2002 Saddam won 100 percent of the vote in a referendum on his leadership, and he secured another seven-year term as president.
US President Bush succeeded in obtaining a unanimous UN Security Council vote on Resolution 1441, which gave Iraq a final chance to disarm or face serious consequences. Saddam accepted the resolution unconditionally and in November 2002, weapons inspectors returned to Iraq.
The US launched a war on Iraq in late March. But Saddam remained defiant, even with a coalition of US-led forces attacking Iraq. Saddam has seen four US presidents come and go during his rule, and has maintained his power for over two decades. But this time Saddam may be confronted by a crisis he will find difficult to survive.
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