Saddam Hussein: How Power Became a Trap

Saddam Hussein built a system that made him difficult to challenge. Why did that system fail so catastrophically? Trace his rise inside the Ba'ath Party, the 1979 purge, the Iran-Iraq War, Anfal and Halabja, Kuwait, sanctions and the 2003 invasion. We distinguish documented chemical atrocities in the 1980s from the active stockpiles alleged before the later war. Real archives and original animated graphics follow the gap between power, fear and evidence. What did Baghdad and Washington misunderstand about each other? Share your evidence, like the film and subscribe to Minds That Moved. CHAPTERS 00:00 The ruler and the miscalculation 01:30 Learning the machinery of power 03:00 The price of obedience 04:30 A war that would not end 06:00 Evidence of repression 07:30 Defeat without removal 09:00 Fear and the weapons question 10:30 The invasion and the reckoning 12:00 The man in custody 13:30 A verdict is not the whole history 15:00 Power without correction SOURCES & EXPERTS Steve Coll (journalist and author of The Achilles Trap); Joseph Sassoon (historian of authoritarian institutions). Expert views are attributed narrator paraphrases, not verbatim interview audio. Coll: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/video/ac... Sassoon: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/sa... Anfal: https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/19... Iraq Survey Group: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/G... ARCHIVE / INTERVIEW EXCERPTS Penguin History    • When Saddam Hussein held a public purge   CBS News    • From the archives: Day 1 of the Iraq War   WoodrowWilsonCenter    • The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the CIA...   British Pathé    • Welcome to Baghdad: How Iraq Used to Be in...   AP Archive    • SYND 29 1 76 CHIRAC ARRIVAL   AP Archive    • UPITN 9 7 79 LORD CARRINGTON MEETS SADDAM ...   AP Archive    • UPITN 13/1/80 PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN SPEECH   Hesham Sallam    • ARD Stanford: Joseph Sassoon on "The Anato...   ThamesTv    • Iran Iraq War | Iran | Conflict |  TV Eye ...   AP Archive    • Iraq/Kuwait - Saddam Profile   AP Archive    • Iran-Iraq War Begins - 1980  | Today in Hi...   U.S. Army Center of Military History / DVIDS https://www.dvidshub.net/video/782663 Reuters    • Notable quotes from the Iraq War   Chris Tucker / 3rd Infantry Division, DVIDS https://www.dvidshub.net/video/661023 AP Archive    • First session of Saddam Hussein's trial   Excerpts accompany historical commentary; credit does not imply endorsement or a license grant. PHOTO CREDITS (cropped/resized; gentle motion): Mhsheikholeslami / CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Adam Jones, Ph.D. / CC BY-SA 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Tim Sheerman-Chase / CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Bryan Dorrough from Seoul, Korea / CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=..., https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... User:Icammy7 / CC BY-SA 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Christiaan Briggs / CC BY-SA 3.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Antti Lipponen / CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Jim Gordon / CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Jeffrey Allan Backowski II / CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... John Martinez Pavliga / CC BY 2.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=... Licenses: CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Adapted CC BY-SA photos retain their listed licenses. Additional public-domain/CC0 images: Wikimedia Commons, including U.S. government archives. Original score: The Closed Room — Minds That Moved. #SaddamHussein #SaddamDocumentary #Iraq #IraqWar #GulfWar #IranIraqWar #WMD #HistoryDocumentary #PoliticalHistory #MindsThatMoved