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That role has been exaggerated to rationalize reason for the war and create the image of a superpowerful boogieman who must be deposed. Anyone in a nation with a serious proportion of Islamic population is required to pay homage in some way to Islam, or he will be assassinated, as was Anwar Sadat. Saddam Hussein wasn't half of what he or Bush claimed he was. I have no use for Hussein. The world will be better off without him. But as the terrorist behind 9/11, which if anybody bothers to remember, is what this whole thing was supposed to be about, Hussein was small fry.