Originally Posted by Incosian

I think the term 'Iraqi' is a bit of a misnomer.

Winston Churchill and others created the term Iraq when they arbitrarily structured the modern-day middle east. The people in Iraq are various conglomerations of ethnic groups - i.e. the Kurds, Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. It is a ridiculous concept to try and establish a 'democratic' government in a country that contains such radical polarization on many spectrums...This little project over in Iraq will turn into a theocracy based on the principles of the ethnic majority (i.e. the Shi'a Muslims). Oppression is unavoidable in such a situation...and the Shi'a will want payback for their sufferings under the former Sunni regime.

Not in his defense, but Saddam did not gas his own people. He oppressed a competing religious/ethnic faction that threatened his dictatorship. In a slightly different sense, Vladimir Putin uses a similar method of exterminating the competition, as when he locked up the oil tycoon for 'tax evasion'...it is widely known that the rich executive had big political plans and ambitions, so Putin shut him out. Same principle with Saddam, except to a much less severe degree.