Sitting comfortably in my armchair watching events on CNN and BBC World, I wonder if we are now beginning to see the reason why Saddam Hussein was as he was.
Take some time to reflect on the fact that he led a military coup to overthrow a half mad military dictator and that he did it with the help of western countries.
As to the rabid anti-islamic element posting here, I must say that there are plenty of peaceful and, in their own way, more or less democratic islamic nations around the world. There are even one or two islamic absolute monarchies that are examples of good governance too. As a matter of fact, the overwhelming majority of muslims do not live in the middle east, nor are they 'oil rich'. For example, there are more muslims in China than there are in Iraq; although they are not self-governing and are oppressed by the state, they are in general as peaceable and likeable a bunch of folks as one could wish to meet.
Beware of generalising solely on the basis of media reports or experience on the ground only in Iraq and Afghanistan - Bush & Blair took a wrong turning through listening to just one side of a complex story.