The first time was in 1959. That was after a plot to kill Iraq's then prime minister, General Abd al-Karim Qasim.
The assassination was authorised by the, um, CIA.
However, the operation was bungled, and Qassim survived. With the assistance of CIA and Egyptian operatives, Saddam fled to Beirut, where he participated in a CIA training course, then was sent to Cairo. There he studied law and helped the CIA compile a list of Iraqi communists and radicals.
In 1963, Qassim was overthrown by the Ba'ath party, and Saddam returned to Iraq to head the Ba'ath party's intelligence service.
Saddam's intelligence service, using the CIA-compiled list, soon went about arresting and interrogating suspected communists -- many, however, were simply and summarily gunned down. The mass killings, presided over by Saddam, took place at Qasr al-Nehayat, literally, the Palace of the End.
The rest is history.
Shaking Hands: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983.
Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984
National Security Archive
Electronic Briefing Book No. 82
(Edited by Joyce Battle)
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