neither to the United States nor to any other power." He went so far as to deny his country had lost the 1991 Gulf War
unquestionably a crushing battlefield defeat. Saddam the son of a peasant from the desert Tikrit area assumed the presidency in 1979
11 years after the underground Baath Party took power in a coup that Saddam had helped organize. His rule was denounced by Powell as a "despotic
dictatorial regime that has abused its own people
committed torture
and would commit that torture on a greater scale with weapons of mass destruction." Saddam's elaborate security apparatus was crucial to his ability to maintain power. Andrew Krepinevich
executive director of the private Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
described Saddam as "a person who has beaten the odds for the better part of his life
" pointing to his ability to stay in power through devastating wars and a range of attempted assassinations and coups.
