1. Iraq and Al-Qaeda

2. The Ba’ath Party The Ba’ath party was an Arab secular socialist political party that sought to unite Arab countries as one large socialist nation. It came to power in Egypt, Syria and Iraq in the 1960’s establishing socialist dictatorships in all three countries. From 1958-1961 the Ba’ath party united the countries of Egypt and Syria as the United Arab Republic or “UAR” During the Cold War they were supported by the Soviet Union Thus relations with the US were tenuous at best

3. An Aggressive Iraq In 1979 a Sunni Arab named Saddam Hussein, a leader of the Ba’ath party seized power to avoid a union with Syria He then invaded Shia Iran after the revolution The War continued for 10 years. Iraq used poison gas on Iranians and ethnic Kurds during the War violating international law. In 1990 Iraq conquered its oil-rich neighbor Kuwait. The United States declared war on Iraq The Arab league supported the US which easily drove the Iraqi army out. It was called “Desert Storm”

5. Al-Qaeda Around 1988 Osama Bin Laden, a Saudi veteran of the Afghanistan war against the Soviet Union founded a terrorist organization called Al Quada (The Base) It advocates global Jihad with the goal of establishing Islamic Theocracies worldwide Saddam Hussein was secular and therefore had no interaction with Al-Qaeda