Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr

He wasn't even particularly popular with the people.

He was, by most accounts, a mid-level enforcer who had spent years as the number two man behind President Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr.

Yet, in July 1979, he didn't just take power, he completely obliterated any potential opposition in a matter of weeks.

How does someone orchestrate their own rise while simultaneously destroying the very system that brought them to prominence? And why did some of the smartest political minds in the Middle East walk willingly into what they must have known was a trap? Imagine this.

Since 1958, Iraq had seen government after government collapse in violence.

The Ba'ath Party itself had been in power since 1968, but it was a fragile coalition held together by ideology, oil money, and fear.

President al-Bakr was aging and increasingly isolated.

The party was split between different factions, different tribal loyalties, different visions for Iraq's future.

He wasn't even particularly popular with the people.

He was, by most accounts, a mid-level enforcer who had spent years as the number two man behind President Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr.

Yet, in July 1979, he didn't just take power, he completely obliterated any potential opposition in a matter of weeks.

How does someone orchestrate their own rise while simultaneously destroying the very system that brought them to prominence? And why did some of the smartest political minds in the Middle East walk willingly into what they must have known was a trap? Imagine this.

Since 1958, Iraq had seen government after government collapse in violence.

The Ba'ath Party itself had been in power since 1968, but it was a fragile coalition held together by ideology, oil money, and fear.

President al-Bakr was aging and increasingly isolated.

The party was split between different factions, different tribal loyalties, different visions for Iraq's future.