“Wasn’t Hussein a mass murderer and an avowed enemy of the United States?” Not really. He’d been a primary ally in a war against Iran, the latter still being punished for its revolution against the US-backed shah. Indications are he could have re-annexed Kuwait, which was cheating him of oil, had his invasion not come across as a sign Herbert Walker Bush was too weak (I think Margaret Thatcher convinced our president of that danger). As they say on Facebook (regarding relationship status): it was “complicated”. A mass murderer? Sure, but that’s never been a problem for our executive branch.