There are many Iraqi figures who passed through the country and left a clear imprint in politics and science, and spread their fame in the academic community and political work for many years, and Saadoun Hammadi is one of the most prominent Iraqi politicians for decades due to the ministerial and academic positions he held.
Saadoun Hammadi was born in the city of Karbala (south of Baghdad) in 1930, and after receiving elementary and secondary education, he obtained a scholarship from the Iraqi Ministry of Education (now education) to complete his studies at the American University of Beirut in the field of economics, where he graduated in 1952, as the writer Hamid Al-Mutabaa mentioned In his book (Encyclopedia of Iraqi Flags in the Twentieth Century).
Al-Tababi - who was a friend of Hammadi's - says that after completing his university studies, he traveled to the United States to study for a master's degree at the University of Wisconsin, and graduated there in 1955 as a specialist in agricultural economics, and then obtained a doctorate from the same university in 1957 for his thesis (Establishing a land tax in Iraq) ).
For his part, Ibrahim Al-Alaf, historian and professor of modern history at the University of Mosul, says that Hammadi married twice, the first with a Palestinian woman from the Kayali family and of whom he had 5 children, and after her death he married again an Iraqi woman close to him from the city of Karbala.
Al-Allaf saw that Saadoun Hammadi's qualifications nominated him to occupy many positions until 2003 (Al-Jazeera)
His political career
Hammadi's political career began in his early teens, as Al-Allaf mentions - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - that Hammadi is one of the first to introduce the ideology of the Arab Socialist Baath Party to Iraq when he established the party’s first cell in the city of Karbala in the late 1940s when he was studying at the American University in Beirut. .
After his return from the United States, Hammadi took over the editor-in-chief of the government newspaper Al-Jumhuriya after the success of the July 14 revolution in 1958 and the fall of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic of Iraq, according to Al-Allaf, who indicated that his qualifications nominated him to occupy many positions until 2003.
Returning to the writer Hamid Al-Mutabi, he indicates that Hammadi was appointed after 1963 as Minister of Agrarian Reform, and after the 1968 revolution he assumed the position of the Ministry of Oil between 1970 and 1974, then he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1974 and 1982, and then he was elected in 1984 to become a member of the National Council. (Parliament).
As for Al-Allaf, he mentions - in an exclusive testimony - that he was appointed in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war in 1982 as deputy prime minister for economic affairs, as the prime minister was then President Saddam Hussein, then after the 1996 parliamentary elections he was elected president of the Iraqi National Council and continued in his position until the American invasion In March 2003.
Al-Mukhtar indicated that Hammadi is one of the most important personalities that did not take the appropriate role for his intellectual, political and administrative capabilities (Al-Jazeera)
His qualities and discipline
The leader of the Baath Party and the former Iraqi ambassador, Salah Al-Mukhtar, mentioned - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - that Saadoun Hammadi was contrary to what was rumored about his seriousness, which was said to not allow him to smile or to expand the conversation, and confirms that he was very open and discussed all the details related to his work and smile His life rises.
Al-Mukhtar adds that Hammadi is one of the most important figures that did not take the appropriate role for his political and administrative intellectual capabilities, explaining that there were other personalities in Iraq at that time who were also highly qualified.
Mustafa Kamel, the journalist of Al-Jumhuriya newspaper, goes in this regard, saying, "He did not know about Hammadi any activity other than job commitment and with a high degree of discipline, and he believed that career commitment is part of the national, political, intellectual and national commitment."
Kamel, who had been with Hammadi, added that he disagreed with him in a discussion after a lecture given by the late at the College of Arts at the University of Baghdad in the mid-eighties of the last century, noting that Hammadi, although he was a senior official in the party and the state, he did not refrain from a quiet, objective discussion, and he accepted Intellectual disagreement with his student without any problem, according to Kamel.
Al-Anaz saw that Hammadi was one of the most prominent contributors to the 1972 declaration of the nationalization of Iraqi oil (Al-Jazeera)
As for the political researcher, Iyad Al-Anaz mentions more qualifications that Hammadi enjoyed, pointing to his calm and practical personality that contributed to building modern Iraq, as he possessed his economic vision and practical means in supporting the nationalization of oil and succeeded in the negotiations held with the monopolistic companies that culminated in the declaration of the nationalization of Iraqi oil. On June 1, 1972.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Enaz adds that Hammadi's contributions to strengthening the Iraqi economy at the time qualified him to become deputy prime minister for economic affairs in 1982, then an economic advisor, as he was able to solve many of the problems that were facing Iraq with the start of the international blockade in 1991.
It was noteworthy that the late President Saddam Hussein assigned Saadoun to head the government on March 23, 1991 until September 13 of the same year in the post-Gulf War period, after Saddam himself held the position since he assumed the presidency in 1979.
His arrest and his exit from Iraq
After the US invasion of the country in March 2003, American forces arrested Saadoun Hammadi for several months in a detention center near Baghdad International Airport, then soon transferred him to Abu Ghraib prison, where he stayed only a few months, as he was released in February 2004 without He is among the 55 most wanted list of the United States, according to what Ibrahim Al-Allaf confirms.
After his release from prison, he moved to Beirut, and continued his intellectual activity through the Center for Arab Unity Studies. He also moved between the Jordanian capital Amman and the State of Qatar, but his leukemia in the last months of his life forced him to travel to Germany for treatment, where he died on March 17th. / March 2007.
As for al-Mukhtar, he mentions - in his testimony to Al-Jazeera Net - that one of the most prominent manifestations of his chastity is that after his death he left only a small sum that did not exceed 26 thousand dollars, which he recommended to the Foundation for Arab Unity Studies in Beirut and not to his family, in addition to that he spent his life between calling for Arab unity and writing Studies that serve this goal.
It is noteworthy that the Center for Arab Unity Studies published the complete works of Saadoun Hammadi in an edition that included all his books in 3 volumes in addition to electronic publications.