Was Saddam as bad, as people said he was?

Yes, he was truly evil. But I am troubled by the fact that America set ourselves up as judge, jury, and executioner. Besides the fact that we have spent billions of dollars on the war and lost thousands of American and Iraqi lives and hundreds of thousands of Americans and Iraqis will get severe injuries, what gives our country the right to decide which countries' leaders are evil enough to be executed?

What if at some point another country becomes a Superpower (like China or Japan or India) and decides our leader is evil? Shouldn't we be setting an example as a role model now that this is not the way to behave, invading other countries, executing other leaders, etc., so if another country becomes a Superpower at some point, they will have a positive role model to follow?

Are you not following the news stories regularly? Saddam may definitely have good qualities in some way... but he had killed his own country men belonging to different religious denomination, in a large number...

But this does not mean that US should have invited all the unnecessary criticism by involving in this matter to this extent... Even if the story of his stockpiling lethal weaponry - chemical / bio or otherwise - had been proved, the military engagement and all would have invited much less criticism...

But the judgment does cast a dark shadow on the intentions of the self appointed police (Bush) of the world... albeit the argument that their own judges (Iraqis) gave the verdict... people know how far judges could be impartial in the lands of dictators... particularly when the powerful foreign military is in their country...

By engaging in a war against the advice of the UN, the US had revealed its special and questionable interest in the matter... If it were any other country the UN sanctions would have been got against the country to cut off economic and other cooperation with the defaulter country... The vicious veto in the hands of such haughty big bosses had virtually made UN ineffective...

But the critics of the world can only blame the US govt and not its good citizens of whom a significant number do not mince words in condemning the war of this nature...

According to news reports, he was responsible for the deaths of almost 2 million people. If that is the case, he is right up there with Hitler,(who was crazy from syphilis). As far as Osama goes, we are not actively looking for him. Bush has publicly stated that he doesn't care about Osama, even though he is the one responsible for the attack on us. Maybe it's because he makes too much money in the oil business with Osama's father. Fact. Look it up. Or maybe it's because he just wanted to use 9/11 to invade Iraq. Not to save the people from a brutal tyrant,(which would have been noble), but because there's a lot of oil and squandered wealth there. Because there's a lot of money in the war business. Just a few thoughts.

You definitely need some help... luck for you I'm here... Saddam committed some of the most horrific crimes of this century... He's up there w/ Hitler... he gassed 14 Kurd villages in his own country killing men, women and children... He used chemical warfare against Iran... He terrorized his whole country raping the wives and daughters of anyone who apposed him and tortured his opponents... Bush should not be impeached for freeing millions of Iraqi citizens from an oppressive regime... he should be commended... Its sad that some soldiers had to die to do it, but as far as wars go...we've lost less in this one than any other prolonged conflict...

Out of all the men he put to death, a handful may have tried to kill him... but he killed them all out of suspicion, even some as young as 12 years old... He didn't know who tried to kill him... he just picked the ones nearest and killed them as an example to the rest... that is evil... he was evil... the world is better off now that he is gone...

Ok blondie, the person above compared him to Hitler. The German people and the rest of the world watched as Hitler killed the Jews. The german people could not stop him, the US has been criticized for not intervening earlier.

Now, the same thing is happening and we ar criticized for intervening.

Yes, I agree Osama should he hung, but we don't have him yet. His time will come and it can't be too soon.

He killed, thousands of people, innocent women and children. Wait, terrorists came to this country and killed thousand (you remember 9/11), but you are saying that Bush should be held responsible for terrorists murdering 3000 soldiers. The same people (terrorists) came here to kill us and we are fighting them in the Middle East. How can you blame Bush for this. The problem with terrorism goes back may years. We should have gone in there after they hit the Cole back in 2000. If anything, if he is guilty of anything, it is for not having gone in there sooner.

Now stop making Saddam out to be a poor guy who was mistreated and start thanking the heroes of our country for guarding your rights and allowing you to ask questions like this.

Somedays I wonder what the truth really is. I have little doubt that there were many brutal and violent acts conducted by Saddam. But the crime he was tried and executed for, was the execution of people who launched a failed coup and assasination attempt. What would happen if such a thing was attempted in the US?(treason is still a capital offense). Is it that different then what was done to David Koresh and his followers by the FBI in Waco? (74 men, women and children killed). Also, the slaughter of the Kurds was a similar situation, they tried to overthrow Saddam as well. Now I am not defending the man, I'm just saying the facts are not clear, and the trial was a joke. All executions are brutal and criminal in my opinion.

Figure it out for yourself. The last minutes of Saddam Hussein were as follows:

Saddam (as the noose is put around his neck): Ya Allah (Oh God).

Someone in the audience: Mercy be on those who pray for Mohammed and the household of Mohammed. (Everyone repeats the prayer, including Saddam.)

Executioner and two people in the audience: And hasten his return (the Mehdi), curse his enemy and grant victory to his son, Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada! (This is a common Sadrist chant.)

Saddam (smirking): Muqtada?

NSA Muwafaq Al-Rubai'i: To Hell!

Saddam: (laughing)

Prosecutor Munqidh Al-Far'awn: Please, no.

Muwafaq Al-Rubi'i: Long live Mohammed Baqir Al-Sadr!

Someone in the audience: To Hell!

Saddam (solemnly recites the Shahada prayer): I witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Mohammed is the messenger of Allah. I witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Mohammed is the- (trap door is opened).

Audience: Prayers for Mohammed and the household of Mohammed.

Someone: The tyrant has fell. May Allah's curse be upon him.

Someone: No. No. Stay back.

Someone: Leave him for 8 minutes. Don't take him down.

Someone: Everyone. Stay back.

Saddam was a fiend who ordered the murders of thousands of people over the years. He was worse then Milosevic,who they finally went after. He's gone and that's good. Iraqi Americans in the US were celebrating. I feel no sorrow for a brutal dictator. Would you have felt sorry for Hitler?

Saddam murdered millions of innocent people during his life. Have you forgotten the mass graves, the war against Iran, the mass killings of Kurds? The biological and chemical weapons that he used?? ......

Saddam was responsible for ordering the murder of many many many innocent people. He has committed genocide (the attempted extermination of an entire race, like what Hitler did to the Jews), he had sons that followed his orders that went around raping and killing women in front of their families, who were then killed just for being there, he put people alive into meat grinders and every other atrocity you can imagine. If you saw what really happened, you would feel ashamed for ever feeling sorry for that monster. He was the baddest of the bad and you should be very thankful for your evidently VERY sheltered lifestyle.