Born on April 28, 1937 (Al-Awja, Iraq)

President of Iraq

Long before Saddam Hussein came to the world's attention with his 1990 invasion of Kuwait, his determined resistance to United Nations' resolutions in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and his capture by U.S. troops in 2003, the Iraqi president was known throughout the Middle East as an especially cunning and ruthless dictator. Using a combination of careful planning, cruelty, and violence, Hussein rose through the ranks of Iraq's Baath Party. He became president in 1979 and held that role for twenty-four years, despite taking his country into a costly, unproductive war against neighboring Iran from 1980 to 1988, and into clashes with U.S.-led multinational forces in 1991 and again in 2003. Hussein's rule ended in 2003, when U.S. troops invaded Iraq and removed Hussein from power. In 2005, the former leader awaited trial in an Iraqi prison.