Answer
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr was the president of Iraq from 1968 to 1979. He was a member of the Ba'ath Party and was involved in the 1968 coup d'état that overthrew the government of Abdul Rahman Arif. Al-Bakr was a close ally of Saddam Hussein, who became vice president under his rule. In 1979, al-Bakr was forced to resign due to ill health and was succeeded by Hussein.