Hopefully the subject line will get a couple of people to click on this thread. A friend of mine has to write a paper on how Saddam was an effective leader. If anyone can give me links to sites that deal with this subject matter it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks from my friend in advance!

Well...He was tough on crime.

He's still got people fighting for his cause long after he's been no-op'ed...

Step number one: define effective.

The rest is easy.

That doesn't necessarily make him effective.

Effective from whose point of view? From his own he was great - power, wealth, influence. He just went a bit too far and his only fault was toying with the weapons guys,

Yeah, he should have never taken those nukes from us.

I heard an interview with some Iraqi women on NPR not too long ago who were saying that while they hated Saddam they were allowed to get educations and were working as doctors and teachers and so on and even though the US is currently "in control" that they can already see those rights sliding away.

FWIW.

Yes, for all his failings, Saddam kept the country from civil war (something Dubya seems to be failing at), and kept it from the religious fanatism that troubled neighbouring countries (and won't make any remark about Dubya this time )