oil interests owned by British companies throughout the country. Secondly, the 1973 oil crisis caused the price of oil to quadruple in international markets overnight. The combination of these two events greatly reinforced the position of the Ba'ath, which was then able to invest vast amounts of capital into Iraq's economy and into its military. At that point the Iraqi government, confident of its position, invited a number of dissidents to return to Iraq. Al-Ali returned to Baghdad after he was promised safe passage. Shortly after his arrival he was offered the position of Ambassador to Sweden, which he initially refused but was soon appointed as Ambassador to Sweden, where he served from 1973 to 1976. He subsequently was Ambassador to Spain from 1976 to 1978, and was then appointed as Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, where he served from 1978 to 1981. Years in opposition Saddam Hussein assumed the presidency in 1979, and later that year attended the Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Cuba, which Al-Ali also attended and met with representatives from the new Islamic Republic of Iran. A few months after the Iran–Iraq War commenced, Al-Ali resigned his position once again. As a result of this decision, Al-Ali was banned from returning to his home country, and was only able to return to Iraq after the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. After the 1991 Gulf War, Al-Ali decided to formally join the Iraqi opposition, and with Iyad Allawi formed the short-lived Al-Wifaq party. He began publishing a weekly political newspaper from London that adopted an anti-Saddam and staunchly patriotic line. The paper rejected any foreign influence in the country and was fiercely opposed to the international sanctions that had been imposed against Iraq by the international community. Return to Iraq As the war commenced in March 2003, Al-Ali was interviewed on a number of occasions on Al-Jazeera in which he condemned both the US-led invasion and Saddam Hussein's government. As the Iraqi government began to fall, Al-Ali entered the country through the Syrian-Iraqi border and this event was captured on an Al-Arabiya documentary that was aired shortly after the war. Al-Ali lived in Baghdad from 2003 to 2006, where he published his weekly newspaper, which adopted an anti-occupation and opposition stance. He now lives in retirement. References External links Atlantic Monthly Article Further reading Biography of Saddam Hussein () Inside the Iraqi Insurgency