I'm not saying he's not, he's a power hungry SOB. I'm saying there came a time where Iraq was powerful and it was his rule. As I said earlier, He's retardedness as a ruler was displayed when he invaded Kuwait after a high ranking official insulted him. But he did build the country well, and the 80s Iraq was much better off than the Iraq in the 90s on. No starvation, no bombings, no terrorists. Even the death tolls that he killed himself within the country (ala the Kurds and Shi'its) don't match the amount of deaths that happened during the Iraq War and post-Iraq War with Al-Quieda and various other terrorists running in from Iran and Saudi Arabia. Also he never massacred his people. Kurdish rebellion and Shi'ite/pro Irani uprising wanted land and Irani control.
Also as for the Iraq attacking Iran first, it was published on Wikileaks IIRC that USA pressured him to do so.