Top Highlights

• Hussein was responsible for the nationalization of Iraqi oil and foreign banks, a move that generated great economic prosperity. He put this revenue into state welfare programs and improved the national infrastructure. Iraq established universal free schooling, a National Campaign for the Eradication of Illiteracy, support for families of soldiers,...
• “Women make up one half of society. Our society will remain backward and in chains unless its women are liberated, enlightened and educated.” —Saddam Hussein
• In 1974, Iraqi oil revenue rose to $5.7 billion from $575 million in 1972. Hussein channeled this money into innovative state welfare programs and improved the national infrastructure. Iraq established universal free schooling, a National Campaign for the Eradication of Illiteracy, support for families of soldiers, free hospitalization to all, and ...
• This generated jobs for hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. New roads connected Iraq’s big cities and surrounding towns and villages. Within a few years Hussein brought electricity to every city in Iraq.
• In a scheme to bring agricultural workers into Iraq, Hussein relocated entire villages of Sunni Muslims from Egypt and Morocco. The Arab world made note of his generosity.