Saddam Hussein

Kuwaiti cinemas will launch today public screenings of "Swarm of Doves," the Gulf state's first feature-length film about the 1990 invasion of the Gulf state by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

An Iraqi army helicopter crashed during a routine flight on Sunday, killing all seven people on board, a military statement and Iraqi air force officers said.
The Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter went down near the southern province of Kut, the statement said. Two pilots and five army officers were killed, Iraqi air force officers told Reuters.

Iraq's Kurds will go ahead with a referendum on independence on Sept. 25, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani has said.

Iraqi Kurds will seek talks with the Shi'ite-led central government to implement the expected "yes" outcome of the referendum, even if they take two years or more, he said at a news conference.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq plan to open the Arar border crossing for trade for the first time since 1990, when it was closed after the countries cut ties following Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, Saudi local media reported on Aug. 15.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq are to launch a joint trade commission, the Saudi cabinet announced on Aug. 14, in a sign of a thaw in ties between the two neighbors.

Iran has called in the Swiss charge d'affaires, who looks after U.S. interests, to protest against comments by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson backing "peaceful transition" in the Islamic republic.

"Once, my son, Uday, fired indiscriminately at a party and killed many people. I burned his Rolls-Royces, Ferraris and Porsches after the incident," the former Iraqi emperor told his guards. When the American soldiers captured him on December 13, 2003, he said: "I'm Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi President."

"I was saddened to learn my former colleague, Constantine Mitsotakis, has passed. We worked together on a number of pressing issues, but none more important than removing Iraqi forces from Kuwait following their brutal invasion in 1990. When it came to upholding international law and enforcing those tough UN sanctions against Saddam Hussein, my friend Constantine was solid as a rock.

The primary US objective during the 2003 invasion of Iraq was not bringing democracy to the Middle Eastern country, but to oust Saddam Hussein, touted as "a threat to the region," says a secretary of state under President George W. Bush.

Today's Iraq is one of the countries that have emerged at the end of the 400-year-old Ottoman Empire rule after the First World War.