Are we any better than Saddam Hussein?

Well, I'd say its better to be alive than dead.

With 20/20 hindsight it was not a very smart thing to expose people to possible harm from radiation. But, that was 60 years ago when there was little knowledge of radiation effects, which was probably the reason for tests like that. Not even close to Saddam killing about 300,000 of his people with various chemical and other weapons, like that Kurdish town where his Air Force dropped mustard gas on it leaving hundreds of men women and children dead in the streets. Yes, we have made mistakes, unlike Hussein who did what he did on purpose. Not the same at all.