"Here is a CBC biography of Saddam for you. Here is a HRW article on The Mass Graves of al-Mahawil. But, that might be too much truth for you. Also, here is a Weekly Standard article attempting to estimate the number of lives saved by removing Saddam from power."
Allright, let's see.
From your first link:
"He nationalized the oil industry. He instituted a nation-wide literacy project, non-attendance punishable by three years in jail. Hundreds of thousands of illiterate Iraqi men, women and children learned to read. He advocated the building of schools, roads, public housing and hospitals. Iraq created one of the best public-health systems in the Middle East. UNESCO gave him an award."
Obviously a monster of a man, bad enough to destroy a whole nation for.
From your second link:
"The mass executions documented in this report took place at a time when the Iraqi government was in great turmoil. Its infrastructure and its military were severely damaged from the effects of the first Gulf War and many of its local officials in the south were killed during the 1991 uprisings."
So, because we had made it impossible for them to deal with (USA supported) rebellions in a decent way, they had to resort to these crimes. Terrible. He should have let his country fall into civil war, ofcourse, just like we wanted.
From your third link:
"U.N. economic sanctions were also killing civilians. Critics regularly claimed sanctions caused 4,000 to 5,000 Iraqi children to die per month from poor nutrition and health care. UNICEF attributed some 500,000 unnecessary deaths to the sanctions in the 1990s. The sanctions remained in place as long as Saddam's regime refused to comply with international requirements. Liberation made it possible to lift the sanctions almost immediately--thus saving approximately 60,000 lives a year, if we use UNICEF's numbers."
So, because he didn't turn himself in to be hanged, he is responsible for all the lives we took in retaliation. Makes sense, yes.
"So, by a conservative estimate, the regime was killing civilians at an average rate of at least 16,000 a year between 1979 and March 2003."
By extremely conservative estimate, the number of violent deaths between 2003 and 2008 was over 100000. That's 20000 a year. The real number may be 5 to 10 times as high, unfortunately.
"The war was caused by spineless bureaucrats who corrupted the oil for food program, and through ineptitude or greed caused the enforcement of sanctions to fail."
Do you even know why the USA has always been opposed to the (perfectly fine) Oil for Food program? Have you looked up 'petrodollar' on the internet? Let me explain.
Trading Iraq's oil for food and other stuff meant that there were no dollars involved. So, the USA could make no profit from 10% of the world's oil transactions. That's an awful lot of money, and extremely dangerous if other countries decide to do the same. Punishment was inevitable, and it would also serve as a warning to others.
Venezuela is doing the same, btw. Fortunately for them, their share in the oil market is not big enough to provoke the USA sufficiently.
Allright, let's see.
From your first link:
"He nationalized the oil industry. He instituted a nation-wide literacy project, non-attendance punishable by three years in jail. Hundreds of thousands of illiterate Iraqi men, women and children learned to read. He advocated the building of schools, roads, public housing and hospitals. Iraq created one of the best public-health systems in the Middle East. UNESCO gave him an award."
Obviously a monster of a man, bad enough to destroy a whole nation for.
From your second link:
"The mass executions documented in this report took place at a time when the Iraqi government was in great turmoil. Its infrastructure and its military were severely damaged from the effects of the first Gulf War and many of its local officials in the south were killed during the 1991 uprisings."
So, because we had made it impossible for them to deal with (USA supported) rebellions in a decent way, they had to resort to these crimes. Terrible. He should have let his country fall into civil war, ofcourse, just like we wanted.
From your third link:
"U.N. economic sanctions were also killing civilians. Critics regularly claimed sanctions caused 4,000 to 5,000 Iraqi children to die per month from poor nutrition and health care. UNICEF attributed some 500,000 unnecessary deaths to the sanctions in the 1990s. The sanctions remained in place as long as Saddam's regime refused to comply with international requirements. Liberation made it possible to lift the sanctions almost immediately--thus saving approximately 60,000 lives a year, if we use UNICEF's numbers."
So, because he didn't turn himself in to be hanged, he is responsible for all the lives we took in retaliation. Makes sense, yes.
"So, by a conservative estimate, the regime was killing civilians at an average rate of at least 16,000 a year between 1979 and March 2003."
By extremely conservative estimate, the number of violent deaths between 2003 and 2008 was over 100000. That's 20000 a year. The real number may be 5 to 10 times as high, unfortunately.
"The war was caused by spineless bureaucrats who corrupted the oil for food program, and through ineptitude or greed caused the enforcement of sanctions to fail."
Do you even know why the USA has always been opposed to the (perfectly fine) Oil for Food program? Have you looked up 'petrodollar' on the internet? Let me explain.
Trading Iraq's oil for food and other stuff meant that there were no dollars involved. So, the USA could make no profit from 10% of the world's oil transactions. That's an awful lot of money, and extremely dangerous if other countries decide to do the same. Punishment was inevitable, and it would also serve as a warning to others.
Venezuela is doing the same, btw. Fortunately for them, their share in the oil market is not big enough to provoke the USA sufficiently.