Like a dead artist's work appreciating in value after their death

This article made me think that Saddam Hussein should have been cut some slack, if not also some rope. The puppet government in Iraq (controlled by the U.S., of course) was in a hurry to off Saddam because subsequent trials for his war crimes would have brought to light American complicity and support with Iraqi 'atrocities' in the 1980s. Now, Saddam is obviously a bad man. However, structurally, it would be near impossible for anyone to rule Iraq, or any other of these sorts of countries without being a bad man. Iraq was gerrymandered by the British to include three diametrically opposed ethnic groups (a familiar concept in the Middle East). You have enemies trying constantly trying to off you and control land/resources, so you have to be a sociopath to hold on to power, and your own life. That includes things like killing people who were trying to kill you, which was the crime he was hung for. There are lots of other countries whose leaders who resort to similar tactics. who the US is more than okay with. Sure, he "gassed his own people", but were ethnic Kurds allied with the enemy Iran really "his people"? It's not as if civilian targets have never been brought into war before, however unfortunate as that is.

Anyhow, I'm certainly not losing any sleep over the fact that Saddam is dead and gone, but his demise reminds me of a remark by former Mob Boss John Gotti, which acknowledged that he loved the money, power, women and fame his lofty but precarious status bestowed upon him. However, choosing this career path meant that it would all come to a crashing halt one day. It's simply an occupational hazard of being a despot...