Saddam's position in list of worst dictators at war start?

[Algernon]

[I believe this has a factual answer, so even though anything involving Bush tends to devolve into a debate, I’m posting this question here.]

While arguing with a Bush supporter, he eventually said “well, even if Saddam had no WMDs and no immediate threat, he still was a horrible dictator that needed to be dealt with.”

I agreed of course that he was a horrible person, but that didn’t give us the right to invade his country and dispose of him. And even if that were a legitimate justification, Saddam was not at the top of “the list” of evil dictators.

This is where I got challenged, and I was caught without the facts. I’ve searched the net but have been unable to find anything definitive. There are lots of press releases in that time frame that talk about numerous countries, but nothing I found put them in any perceived order. I’ve searched the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International web sites but couldn’t find anything there either.

Can anyone help me out here? What exactly was “the list”, and in early 2003 where was Saddam in the pantheon of evil overlords?

[Nametag]

Well, there was Parade’s list in 2004, and this link gives their 2003 list. Kim Jong-Il tops both lists, and the House of Saud was above Saddam in 2003. If you Google for “worst,” “dictators,” and “list,” you’ll find plenty of discussion on the subject.

[Algernon]

Thanks Nametag. I appreciate the help. I don’t know if it’s the list I recall, but it fills the need.

[Ravenman]

You are skating on exceptionally thin ice if you get your information on foreign policy matters from Parade Magazine.

Choosing who is the worst dictator is tremendously subjective, so there’s absolutely no point at all to claiming that Saudi Arabia is run by a greater tyrant than Iraq was. It’s a completely meaningless measure.

You might want to check out www.freedomhouse.org/ratings

It doesn’t rate leaders, but shows which countries are the most repressive. It’s a respectable measure of what freedom people in various countries enjoy.

[Algernon]

@Ravenman

You are skating on exceptionally thin ice if you get your information on foreign policy matters from Parade Magazine.

Undeniably true. But, “any port in a storm” and all that. Plus, their methodology was not simply an editorial opinion.

To compile this year’s list, Wallechinsky consulted (as in 2003) independent human-rights organizations willing to expose both left- and right-wing regimes, including Freedom House, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders.

Your cite is interesting (thanks for the link), but they don’t seem to take into direct consideration the atrocities committed by the dictatorial governments.

The survey does not rate governments or government performance per se, but rather the real-world rights and freedoms enjoyed by individuals as the result of actions by both state and nongovernmental actors. The survey team does not base its judgment solely on the political conditions in a country or territory (e.g., war, terrorism), but on the effect that these conditions have on freedom.