In the eyes of many Arabs, Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, was a true leader who stood up to Western imperialism, the Israeli occupation of Palestine and foreign intervention in the region.But for most Iraqis, Saddam was a tyrant whose 25-year reign from 1979 to 2003 was marked by brutal authoritarianism, repression and injustices, especially among the country’s Shia and Kurdish communities.Twenty years after the 2003 United States-led invasion of Iraq which, in former US President George W Bush’s words, aimed to “free Iraqi people” of their ruler’s oppression, Saddam’s memory remains divisive and polarising. But to many, the economic and political chaos unleashed by the invasion lionised Saddam and his legacy more than ever.
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