Saddam was bad. It's reported he killed hundreds of thousands of his own citizens. We know he certainly killed tens of thousands. As Eddie Izzard says, "he must get up
very early in the morning."
It's good to stop that. But the problem using his crimes to justify this Iraq war is that there is no policy of removing human rights violators or their governments from office. There is no enforcement of the decisions of international human rights courts. There is no binding arbitration on human rights issues. Just activists and NGOs doing their best to prevent havok which history proves is always nearby, and usually having to clean up instead of prevent. No soveriegn body actually has a policy of "violating soveriegnty" in the interest of political justice, as far as I know, and acts on it.
I realized I'm a little out of date with my knowledge of dicators, what with Pinochet gone, Pol Pot, Papa Doc... I'm not dating myself am I? Actually no, some of that is before my time.
Sometimes it looks like every government in every developing nation qualifies. But I'm interested in a list of names I might memorize, and furthermore, I think this is one answer to the meme the Republicans will like to launch now that "Catching Saddam == Winning The War".
Google is my friend so here is a starting list, compiled by David Wallechinsky, which I don't want to present as my own knowledge or list:
"The 10 Worst Living Dictators"
Parade; New York; Feb 16, 2003; Wallechinsky, David
1. Kim Jong-il (North Korea)
2. King Fahd and Prince Abdullah (Saudi Arabia)
3. Saddam Hussein (Iraq)
4. Charles Taylor (Liberia)
5. Than Shwe (former Burma, now Myanmar)
6. Teodoro Obiang Nguema (Equatorial Guinea)
7. Saparmurat Niyazov (Turkmenistan)
8. Muammar Gaddafi (Libya)
9. Fidel Castro (Cuba)
10. Alexander Lukashenko (Belarus)
I'd add Mugabe. I'm sure I've read that Loas and the Sudan have brutal governments.
Anyone care to
a) complete that list
b) summarize the crimes of these dictators (Niyazov?)
c) or for that matter, to dispute any?
Then, when they say "Demcandidate would have left Saddam in power!", I'll say, "when are you planning to invade Zimbabwe?" PS: what about the Congo... does civil war not count? 3 Million lives since 1998 and that's AFTER years of rebel warfare to get rid of yet another monster, Dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
Note: The Izzard joke emphasizes, I think, that other people do the physical killing... it's always a cabal of killing, it's always the cabal that goes out, the henchmen, the mindless henchmen of the world are the real problem, solve their mental dementia and your problem is solved, even if evil manipulators keep popping up. These easily manipulated goons are the real danger to freedom.
