Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr

General Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (Arabic أحمد حسن البكر) (July 1, 1914 - October 4, 1982) was President of Iraq from 1968 to 1979.

A leading member of the Ba'ath Party he orchestrated the 1963 coup that overthrew Iraq's military leader Muhammad Najib ar-Ruba'i. A few months later the Ba'athists were in turn deposed by another coup.

With Egyptian help, in 1967 al-Bakr helped orchestrate an internal coup within the government of President Abdul Rahman Arif. The bloodless coup exiled Arif, and installed al-Bakr as Iraq's fourth president. Al-Bakr became the leading face of the Ba'ath party and Iraqi pan-Arabism and was praised as "leader of the revolution."

His government supported closer ties to the United Arab Republic and under his rule Iraq almost joined the state. Under his rule, the flag of Iraq was modified in preparation for this dream.

Al-Bakr is best known for appointing Saddam Hussein, his Tikriti cousin, as his Vice President. As the president got older, more and more authority was gradually usurped by Hussein, and by the mid-1970s the vice president had established virtual de facto rule over the entire nation, leaning on al-Bakr to resign.

On July 16, 1979 the 65-year-old Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr stepped down, ostensibly on health grounds, and Saddam Hussein assumed the presidency in a move that was widely regarded as little more than a formality.

His death in 1982 received little recognition from the new regime.