good post (btw, I like the stuff you wrote) -- let's say the world is better off without him (as it would've been without Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Beck, Bachmann, and Limbaugh), the real question is whether it was worth the price. I think most of us would agree that taking Hitler out was worth the price. Was it really for Saddam Hussein? And if anyone's answer is yes, can you think of other tyrants that should go and are you willing to sacrifice your life and that of your loved ones to take them out too (rather than avoiding combat as Cheney, Bush, and Rumsfeld did)?
I think the answer is never black and white.
There will be Iraqis who are glad saddam has gone - and I wouldn't pretend to say otherwise, but the cost, for a far larger number of Iraqis was way too high.
those of us sitting in countries which haven't experienced anything like a war on our own soil over the last 60 years are not really in a position to judge on this, because it really hasn't cost us that much (even trillions in debt is not comparable to what it has cost the Iraqis).
other dictators like saddam ... again, I am really not sure that it is that black and white. If you look at Syria, I think Assad should go, but TBH, I think a lot of the rebels are not those we would regard as welcome friends, and I suspect that alawites and Christians, and possibly some others, will suffer more AFTER the fall of Assad than they ever did before this whole thing started.
I also suspect the position of women will be worse, and Israel may be more vulnerable to attack from that quarter.
Libya ... well, we don't hear about that so much these days, and while I think there may be some positives that came out of it, my understanding is that while state violence is less, inter tribal violence is worse ...
and then, while the Arab spring may have erupted in north Africa, attempts in places like Bahrain have been quashed, yet Shi'ites there have been the victims of harassment and discriminations for decades - and it seems that we support the abuse of
their human rights.
I think the Iranian regime is a shocker, but are we helping or hindering the people there with our sanctions?
Myanmar was a brutal dictatorship for decades, we didn't do anything at all but change eventually came about with new leadership, ...
I think these issues are extremely difficult. We seem to side against/for a dictator, depending on our own interests, and it seems that sometimes we encourage uprisings that will lead to even greater instability for the people.
I suspect if you really want some of these situations to improve for the people, you have to offer incentives to make corrupt dictators want to change. even those who are guilty of gross abuses of human rights ... it would probably save lives in the end.