Saddam Hussein hiding place memes are a strange legacy for a brutal dictator who was ultimately executed for his crimes against humanity. But it also just goes to show that you never know what the internet is going to latch onto—even years after the fact.
What was Saddam Hussein famous for?
Saddam Hussein was the president of Iraq at the start of two different U.S.-led wars against him. His legacy was marked by a brutal reign over the Middle Eastern nation: he was a violent dictator whose wars against neighboring countries like Iran resulted in over a million casualties.
Hussein first took power in 1979 and immediately retaliated against his political opponents—and those his regime was suspicious of—by jailing and torturing them.
He was long a boogeyman of the United States, as several presidents made it their mission to topple him. This culminated in former President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003.
How did they find Saddam?
After searching for Hussein within Iraq for over nine months, U.S. forces were led to a farmhouse near the Iraqi city of Tikrit. Their first search of the premises missed Hussein, who they later discovered was hiding in a “concealed spider hole” under the ground.
The spot was obscured by bricks and rubble, and Hussein was six feet underground next to a fan and an air vent. It was quite the contrast from his multiple lavish palaces, where the leader lived during most of his presidency.
What was the last thing Saddam Hussein said?
Hussein was handed over to the interim Iraqi government that succeeded him in 2004. He stood trial for his crimes against humanity and was ultimately sentenced to death by hanging in late 2006. On December 30, he was executed.
According to CBS News, Hussein had a final exchange with one of the guards, during which he said, “I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persian and Americans.” The guard allegedly replied, “God damn you,” and Hussein echoed the sentiment.
He then repeated the Shahada, that roughly translates “I profess that there is no God but God, and that Muhammad is the messenger of God.” In the middle of his second repetition, the executioner dropped the trap door.
How did Saddam Hussein’s hiding place become a meme?
That same year that Hussein was captured, the BBC published an explanatory piece about what happened. It included an illustration of Hussein’s hiding place in which he was represented by a red body laying on its back in the hole. Other illustrated features included Hussein’s air vent, fan, and the hole’s hidden entrance.
Although the image occasionally appeared on the internet in the years that followed, it didn’t start picking up traction or move into meme territory until 2020.
Saddam Hussein meme variations
One of the most popular versions of the meme imagines what else (or who else) Hussein had down in his spider hole with him.
A particularly imaginative meme shows Hussein in his hiding spot alongside a labyrinth of other underground compartments that include a gaming room, an ant colony section, a place for polar bears to burrow underground, a child of divorce falling down into Hussein’s hole (which is another meme), and a compartment where a man is digging for another version of Hussein (a spin-off of yet another meme, too).
Another take on the meme suggests other places Hussein could have been hiding. He’s the monster hiding under your bed, or he’s hiding in your head.
— Ukraine Memes for NATO Teens (@LivFaustDieJung) June 19, 2024
I fucking knew it
byu/superbourpi inNonCredibleDefense
Saddam Hussein hiding with the VC?????
byu/Thenoob12346 inmemes
Although not every variation of the meme utilizes the BBC’s red body, that image has become extremely recognizable and forever linked to the meme as a whole.
Meta Saddam Hussein hiding place memes
Other memes play with the format of the meme. One flips the meme on its head and has Hussein guarding the bricks and rubble, rather than the bricks and rubble guarding Hussein.
Another sees the literal levels of the meme as parts of an iceberg. On top, there is the bricks and rubble; below, the tunnel downward; then Hussein; and finally his air vent.
One posits that Saddam Hussein’s hiding place is the space and time we are living in, and another sees him as a cluster of volume changes in audio editing software.
He’s even been re-created—hiding, of course—in Roblox.
Rest assured, if there’s a place in this dimension or others, the internet will find a way to hide Saddam Hussein there.
Related memes:
- Tired Of Living Through Major Historical Events: Some memes
- A second round of Donald Trump shooting memes has hit the internet
- How 9/11 memes became an internet phenomenon
- Henry Kissinger’s death is the moment the internet has been waiting for
The internet is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here to get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
