The Dujail massacre was characteristic of Saddam's rule. He was infamous for bloody purges and random arrests in order to snuff out plots, real or fictitious.
Believing that he was divinely ordained to rule Iraq, Saddam's ferocious anger and larger than life personality became so legendary that people would not criticise him in public, for fear of death.
When the rumblings of war began in early 2003, with the US wanting to disarm Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass destruction, Saddam seemed so confident of his 'omnipotence' that he refused to leave within the deadline given to him.
Image: (Left) Iraqis watch a statue of former President Saddam Hussein falling in Baghdad's al-Fardous square on April 9 2003. (Right) A handout photo of Saddam Hussein after his capture on December 14, 2003.
Photograph: U.S. Army via and Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images
Also see: Lull after the storm
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