Beside of the Iran-Iraq War - Baghdad's Cityscape Changed (1979 - 1990)

Saddam Hussein needed almost a decade to prepare his personal dictatorship. He had already prepared an apparatus around him that the Baath-Party and the Revolutionary Command Council had lost the ability to make autonomous decisions. His personal cult, propagated via the party media, stated: "Ever since the Sumerian kings, there has been a straight line leading to Saddam Hussein and Iraq is the natural leader of all Arabs. "While this represented a complete deformation of history, it was a sign of his domestic and foreign policy visions. Saddam not only had a vision to govern Iraq. He envisaged himself as the 'Primus' of the region, and maybe more, and prepared closed ties to specific worldwide country leaders such as with Cuba's Fidel Castro. Cuba hosted the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1979, a forum of 120 countries. The country who hosts the summit will automatically take over the reins of the movement till the next summit. Fidel Castro swift response to host the next 1983 summit to Baghdad. The seventh non-aligned summit promised to be a prestigious affair. The guest list comprised an estimated 3,000 people from 95 countries including at least 90 heads of state. On top, Saddam would have had the dominating role in the movement's shaping and strategy, until the next summit in 1985. Only six months before the summit, its location was shifted from Baghdad to New Delhi, because of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988).

To prepare the summit, Saddam commissioned large-scale, symbolic construction projects in Baghdad, which included touristic and cultural infrastructure: The National Theater (1979), the Baghdad Gymnasium, former Saddam Hussein Gymnasium, on the basis of a design by Le Corbusier (1980), Al Rasheed Theater (1981), Baghdad Conference Palace (1982), Al Mansour Melia Hotel (1980), Al Rasheed Hotel (1982), Ishtar and Palestine Hotel (1982), Babylon Hotel (1984). One of Saddam's most important prestige projects was the Haifa Street Development Plan. The street was named after the port city of northern Palestine "Haifa". The plan included housing, modern service utilities, schools, kindergartens, markets, entertainment centres, health centres and parks. All of these construction works were conducted by a 'conglomerate' consisting of leading Iraqi architects and international companies.

The Baath Party was now a country wide organisation reaching down to the smallest village. Saddam built complex patron-client networks that tied people to him via coercion and concessions. Not all, however, followed Saddam. By mid 1980s, possibly half a million Iraqi professionals and intellectuals had left the country. However, for the remaining 'followers', he provided a kind of a feeling of confidence with cultural festivals such as the literature Al Mirbad Festival in Basra starting in 1981 and the Babylon International Festival first held in 1988.

Back in 1979, Baghdad hosted the fifth Arabian Gulf Cup in Al Shaab Stadium, built by the Gulbenkian Foundation between  1963 to 1966. The Iraqi football team won the cup, their first ever title. The cup was originally to be held in Abu Dhabi in 1978. But when UAE gave up their hosting rights, Saddam was keen to see Iraq host the tournament.       The 1980s was a period of success for Iraqi football in general. Beside winning the 1984 and 1988 Arabian Gulf Cup, they had won numerous tournaments, including the 1982 Asian Games, the 1985 and 1988 Arab Cup, and the 1985 Pan Arab Games.

In 1984, Saddam Hussein appointed his son Uday chair of the Iraq Olympic Committee and the Iraq Football Association. Uday Hussein was an unpredictable and ruthless person and was known for example for torturing and jailing sportsmen and coaches in his private jail in the Olympic Committee building when they failed to bring home awards and cups. As a result, many athletes left the country.

Even though the country was in its tournament during the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam built large-scale monuments glorifying his victory and power. These projects were mainly planned before the Iran-Iraq War, which was anticipated by Saddam as a Blitzkrieg. Additionally, the war was mainly fought around the borders of the two countries. Saddam tried to keep Baghdad out of the war zone. The first was the Monument to the Unknown Soldier beside the Great Celebration Square, commissioned in 1979 and completed in 1982. From 1981 to 1983, the Martyrs Monument in Palestine Street was constructed, commemorating the fallen soldiers in the Iran-Iraq War. In 1986, Saddam began construction of the Great Celebration Square, comprising a large parade ground and the Al Mansour building complex at the northern part consisting of Al Mansour Cinema, Aikido Gallery and al Mansour Theater. The culmination of Saddam's own glorification was the inauguration of the symbolic Qadisiya Victory Arch in 1989, a house-high vast metal sculpture of two interlocking swords held aloft by giant bronze hands, modelled on those of Saddam himself, at both entrances to the Great Festivity Square.

This article was written by Hella Mewis and is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.