It is worth remembering that Saddam Hussein was not your run-of-the-mill dictator. He created one of the most brutal, corrupt and violent regimes in modern history, something akin to Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's China or Kim Jong Il's North Korea.
Good point, I'll get the ropoe.
If history can pay Saddam any homage at all, it will be that he knew what it took to keep the factions in Iraq in line. A vicious dictator for a people who would be ruled by nothing less.