Saddamism
[2] It is militarist and views political disputes and conflict in a military manner as "battles" requiring "fighting", "mobilization", "battlefields", "bastions", and "trenches".
[5] Saddamism's right-wing nature contributed to the inter-Ba'athist rivalry with the far-left neo-Ba'athists and the Assad family who held power in Ba'athist Syria.
[3] Saddam Hussein's government was critical of orthodox Marxism and opposed the orthodox Marxist concepts of class conflict, dictatorship of the proletariat, and atheism; as well as opposing Marxism-Leninism's claim that non-Marxist-Leninist parties are automatically bourgeois in nature – claiming that the Ba'ath Party is a popular revolutionary movement and that as such the people rejected petit bourgeois politics.
He also expressed admiration for other communist leaders, such as Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, and Josip Broz Tito due to their spirit of asserting national independence rather than their communism.
Despite this, Saddam's socialism has been described as "nothing but a patchy populism, combining a tightly-controlled state economy with a measure of free enterprise", with the alleged goal of strengthening his own political position.
[15] According to Phebe Marr, Saddam "provided widespread health, education, and social benefits that went well beyond those of any previous regime".
[4] Saddam implemented land reform, made hospitals and education free, doubled the number of students in schools and developed infrastructure such as roads, access to electricity and water, in addition to increasing life expectancy and decreasing child mortality.
West Bank representative who was handing out money to Palestinian families, Mahmoud Besharat, reportedly said "You would have to ask President Saddam why he is being so generous.
Iraq fired 42 Scud missiles into Israeli territory, primarily Tel Aviv and Haifa, amid the Gulf War.
Saddam remains a heroic figure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, whose residents remember him as an Arab leader who was prepared to challenge the United States and Israel.
[40] His face was visible on office buildings, schools, classrooms, airports, and shops, as well as on all denominations of the Iraqi dinar.
"[44] Saddam's regime brought about the deaths of at least 250,000 Iraqis[45] and committed war crimes in Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issued regular reports of widespread imprisonment and torture.
[47] Following the disastrous Gulf War, Shias rebelled in southern Iraq and executed Ba'athist officials during the 1991 Iraqi uprisings.
Saddam responded with repression, killing enemies and suspected political dissidents, resulting in the deaths of about 150,000 Iraqi Shias.
Iraq was ruled by a Sunni Arab elite, although Shias and Kurds were permitted to help build the nation provided that they made no trouble.
[52] Despite Saddam's fears of unrest, Iran's attempts to export its Islamic Revolution were largely unsuccessful in rallying support from Shias in Iraq and the Gulf states.
[54] He invited a large number of Shia to join the ruling Ba'th Party, a shift from their previous exclusion from this political organization.
[55] The uprisings were quelled by the regime through the use of force and mass executions, and Sunni state control managed to restore order.
