"Saddam, a dictator (sorry, BBC, but that's what he was)"

"BBC"? About the only people who have ever tried to cover up the dictatorial and oppressive nature of Saddam's regime have been foreign governments who found it convenient to support him and to help him get hold of arms and so forth. Including, never let it be forgot, the US and UK governments back in the '80s.

A very nasty regime, but that's nothing new or unusual. Was it a price worth paying to get rid of him? It's arguable, but there are a lot of people who would probably disagree - and I'm thinking primarily of the tens of thousands of Iraqis who had loved ones wiped out in the process.

At the time when Saddam was killing his people the outside world sat back and watched, and even assisted him. There is no evidence that the attack on Iraq did anything significant to save lives in Iraq from Saddam. Plenty of evidence that it killing a whole lot more people.