Saddam Hussein was a suppressive leader who instilled fear in the people of the world. His destructive ways radiated as he attempted to eliminate the Kurdish population, nationalize Iraq's oil, and keep his regime in power. However, his strict rule helped create and maintain peace among the people of his country, despite the many different religions that lived in the area. He protected his country from a theocratic form of government, and for a time Saddam Hussein was an ally of the United States. He led a Westernized nation in a fundamentalist region of the world. His regime succeeded in stopping the expansion of al-Qaeda in Iraq, guaranteeing civil rights for women and preventing religious killings linked to mixed marriages. Although Hussein was a brutal dictator, he was able to unite his country and create a westernized nation during his regime despite the country's Islamic stance. Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was born on April 28, 1937 in Ouja, Iraq, a small village outside Tikrit. In Arabic Saddam means "he who confronts". He was born into a landless peasant family, and his natural father, Hussein 'Abid al-Majid, died around the time of Saddam's birth. He lived with his mother, Subha Tulfah al-Mussallat, and two brothers, Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar. When his older brother died of cancer, his mother fell into depression and was no longer able to care for him. He sent him to Baghdad to live with his uncle, Khairallah Talfah, a Sunni Muslim with great influence on Saddam. She later returned to live with her mother and her third husband Hassan Ibriham, or Lying Hassan as many people in the tribe called him. He often used an asphalt-covered stick to beat Saddam, which people think was the reason ... middle of paper ... to execute hundreds of Shiites, thousands were put in prison, and tens of thousands were forced to flee the country and take refuge in Iran. Saddam Hussein understood that there was a great possibility of a war with Iran, and after weighing the possibilities he deliberately started one. He believed he could win a war against Iran for a number of reasons. The Iranian military was short on numbers due to Ayatollah Khomeini's purge of the Shah's officers, and Iran was isolated from the world with no strong allies to support it. Iraq, however, had a stable economy and a strong, organized military. Furthermore, a Shiite had attempted to assassinate Tariq Aziz, Iraqi Foreign Minister and close friend of Saddam Hussein. The rapid growth of the power of the Ayatollahs and the fear of being overthrown by the Shiites pushed Saddam Hussein to start the Iran-Iraq war..