A chronology of Saddam Hussein’s war crimes and assaults against humanity:

• 1978:

  Saddam’s Baathist party exerts power through ruthless crackdowns and conflicts with the Shiites. Amid uprisings in the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf, five religious leaders are allegedly executed by Saddam’s regime.

• 1979:

  Shortly after Saddam seizes power, 15 top party leaders who allegedly conspired against him are executed by firing squad. Saddam Hussein continued to eliminate disloyal politicians, including those who suggest he step down temporarily.

• 1982:

  Saddam Hussein is charged for his part in heading up the conspiracy and execution of the attack in Dujayl, Iraq that leaves hundreds dead, thousands imprisoned or missing, and the destruction of the village. The mass attack came in retaliation for a failed assassination attempt against Saddam by 19 villagers.

• 1983:

  Amid Iraq's 8-year war with Iran, Saddam's government launches a campaign against members of the Kurdish Barzani tribe for helping Iran in a military offensive. An estimated 8,000 Kurds are executed, most of whom are discarded in mass graves.

• 1986-1988:

  Saddam's regime launches a campaign of murder and displacement allegedly aimed at halting Kurdish rebellion. Operation “Anfal,” meaning “spoils of war,” results in the deaths of an estimated 180,000 Kurds. Many of those executed are hastily thrown into mass graves in southern Iraq. Evidence indicates many of those killed are women and children, victims of firing squads and chemical attacks.

• 1990:

  Saddam Hussein leads his military into an invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2. Hoping to use Kuwait's oil to ease Iraq’s economic troubles, the attack was launched under the pretense of claiming Kuwait is in fact a part of Iraq, a charge that has been disputed for nearly 100 years.

  During the war, Iraqi forces fire Scud missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia, and Saddam's soldiers allegedly torture and execute hundreds of Kuwaitis. Kuwaiti oil wells are set ablaze by Iraqi soldiers.

• 1991:

  Some 60,000 people die in Saddam’s violent response to Shiite rebellions in the south and Kurdish protestors in the north.

Following the uprising, Saddam Hussein orders the construction and implementation of new dams, canals and pipelines between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, an area reputed to be the biblical Garden of Eden. By design, the water is diverted and dries up the Mesopotamian marshlands. The waterways become a dusty bed of salt, and thousands of Shiites that live in the area are left to die without fresh fish or the ability to plant food.