Saddam Hussein - Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (April 28 1937 – 'December 30 2006' [ya right]), was the President of Iraq from July 16, 1979 until April 9, 2003, when he was deposed during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As the leader of Iraq and head of the Baath Party, he espoused secular pan-Arabism, economic modernization, and Arab socialism at the same time that he practiced one-party rule, censorship, and violent repressions, especially against Iraq's Shia, Kurdish and Marsh Arab populations.