The Times has a must-read obituary on Saddam that lays down the truth about the brutality of his regime:

That scene was repeated throughout Iraq, from the northern Kurdish provinces, where in the Anfal campaign of 1987-88 Saddam wheeled his army on the restive Kurds and killed an estimated 180,000 — 5,000 by gassing the town of Halabja — to the Shi’ite south where more than 100,000 were killed in 1991.

Saddam was the master of use of the theory “pour encourager les autres”. The saying in Baghdad was “your third cousin”, meaning that if you were suspected of disloyalty, Saddam would kill not just you, but all members of your family down to the third cousin. This was sometimes only a slight exaggeration.

Interlocking intelligence and security agencies spied on everyone, including themselves. While Saddam was in power, a visit from a foreigner to a home in Baghdad would mean a knock on the door within hours. It led to a kind of schizophrenia. Interviewing a minister in Iraq, supposedly one of Saddam’s own, once turned into a mad scene; as the minister spouted the party line, he wildly gesticulated to the ceiling to show that he knew what he was saying was ridiculous but he was being listened to by secret microphones.

Compare this to the bizarrely mild summary from the Associated Press (which far more people will see) that spends most of its word count insinuating complicity by the United States. Anyone who says the press doesn't have an agenda should just read that piece.

Meanwhile, over at POGGE, there is outrage that Saddam wasn't turned over to the Europeans for 'international justice'. In a world full of terrible injustices, getting worked up that a cruel thug like Saddam didn't get to die of old age while his 9th appeal was being heard in the Hague -- well, it's a little strange. But sadly, pretty common.