I'm focusing on the condition of Iraq before we invaded. Even if you only focus on the most recent events, you have him sponsoring terrorism in another country, which creates immense problems in the region, and you have the torture and murder of civilians domestically:
"People died, people were imprisoned without trial," one man told me.
We went further down, to cells that had no light and little air. They were covered with cockroaches and filth - and on the ground I saw a gas mask and bottles of chemicals.
One man said he had spent eight years inside, just for attending Friday prayers. He prayed too much and was seen as a dangerous radical.
But the secret police headquarters had more horrors to reveal.
One man whose relatives had been killed here said they had their hands tied behind their backs, and were left to hang from their arms for days on end.
We are in agreement that Hussein was a monster and he did horrible things.
But his rule of Iraq created a buffer zone btn the sunni arabs of saudi arabia and shi arabs of Iran.
That buffer zone is gone.
Iran will necessarily have an effect on the outcome the Iraq experiment b/c the ruling class and majority of Iraqis are Shia as Iran is Shia.
I just can't put a stable happy face on this situation.
