On this day 46 years ago, on July 16, 1979 (June 23, 1979), Saddam Hussein took office as President of the Republic of Iraq. On July 16, 1979, President Becker resigned due to illness, and Saddam became General Secretary of the Baath Party Regional Leadership, Chairperson of the Revolutionary Command Council, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and President of the Republic. Saddam was born in April 1937 in a peasant family in the village of Uj in Tikriti County (now Salah al-Din Province), northwest of Baghdad. In early 1957, he joined the "Arab Baath Party" and participated in the struggle against the regime of Abdul Karim Qassem. He was arrested for his attempted assassination of Qassem and later fled to Syria and Egypt. While attending university in Cairo, Saddam became a leading member of the Egyptian branch of the Ba'ath Party. In February 1963, the Ba'ath Party launched a military coup to overthrow the regime of Qassem and establish a Ba'ath Party regime. Saddam returned to Iraq and was responsible for the party's peasant affairs. In November 1963, President Arif launched a coup and the Ba'ath Party was forced to go underground. Saddam and Ahmed, Hassan, Becker and others formed a new Ba'ath Party regional leadership. In October 1964, Saddam was arrested for leaking the coup plan. In July 1966, Saddam successfully escaped from prison. Continued to engage in Ba'ath Party activities. In July 1968, the Ba'ath Party led by Hassan and Becker launched a military coup and established a Ba'ath Party regime. He became vice-chairperson of the Revolutionary Command Council in November of the same year and was successively elected deputy secretary-general of the party. He was awarded the rank of general in January 1976. After succeeding Becker as president, he declared that he pursued a non-aligned policy; implemented the policy of "high-speed and comprehensive development" of the national economy centered on the oil industry at home; vigorously expanded military strength in the military. In September 1980, he sent troops to Iran and fought the eight-year (1980-1988) Iran-Iraq War. In August 1991, he annexed Kuwait. In January 1991, he was defeated in the Gulf War. Saddam Hussein was born in April 1937 in a peasant family in Tikrit, Salahuddin Province. He lost his father as a child and was raised by his uncle. Saddam was actively involved in political activism at the age of 18. At the age of 20, he joined the Arab Baath Party, and soon became one of the leaders of the Baath Party. In February 1960, Saddam went to Egypt to study law at Cairo University. After that, he rose rapidly within the Baath Party and served as the deputy general secretary of the party's regional leadership for a long time. In November 1969, he was elected vice-chairperson of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council, becoming a veritable second-ranking person in Iraq. In July 1979, the then Iraqi president, Becker, resigned due to illness, and Saddam successfully ascended to the presidency. At the same time, he also served as chairperson of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council, prime minister, and general secretary of the regional leadership of the Arab Baath Party. He also held the positions of party, government, and army power. A year after Saddam Hussein came to power, the Iran-Iraq war broke out. The eight-year war caused huge losses to the Iraqi economy. In 1990, Saddam sent troops to invade Kuwait, triggering the Gulf War. After the war broke out, the United Nations immediately imposed comprehensive sanctions on Iraq. Since Saddam Hussein became the president of Iraq, he has been in politics for decades, experienced wars, and has been tightly controlling the regime. After the US occupied the Iraqi capital Baghdad on April 9, 2003, former senior Iraqi officials, including Saddam's father and son, suddenly "evaporated" en masse. On April 11, the US military issued a "playing card wanted notice", and 55 former senior Iraqi government officials were listed. Under the joint efforts of the US military and various political factions in Iraq, Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay, were killed by the US military on July 22. Most of the former senior Iraqi government officials on the "poker wanted" list have been arrested, surrendered or killed, but Saddam's whereabouts have been unknown. The US military in Iraq offered a reward of $25 million to capture Saddam. On December 13, at around 8:30 pm Baghdad time, he was captured by the US military in Tikrit.