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Intervention In Iraq?
Timeline: Modern Iraq Additional Features
Early History1920-19301932-19451948-19621963-19751979-19901990-19911993-2002
Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein Gains Power
1979

January: The pro-western Shah of Iran is overthrown during the Islamic Revolution and replaced by the radical Shi'ite Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Iraq, governed by a more moderate Sunni sect, regards the new regime as a threat.

July: President Bakr resigns, Saddam Hussein becomes president and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council [RCC]. In a move to consolidate power, Saddam orders the execution of at least 20 Ba'ath members and military rivals.
1980 Iraq invades the oil-rich region of western Iran, sparking the Iran-Iraq War, which continues for eight years. Both the U.S. and the USSR — Iraq's Cold War rival — support the Iraqis.
1986 The U.N. releases a report confirming Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and Kurds in Northern Iraq in 1981 and 1984.
1988 Iran and Iraq, locked in a stalemate and crippled by eight years of war, agree to a U.N.-imposed peace deal. The war has decimated the Iraqi economy and much of its infrastructure.
1990 Iraq restores diplomatic ties with Iran, although their relationship remains cool.
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