Was Saddam Hussein a sponsor of international terrorism?

Answer 1

No...

Answer 2

Just a slight correction to Mike L's post. There was Al Qaeda in Iraq while Saddam was in power, except it was a Kurdish group in the autonomous Kurdish zone set up by the UN after the Gulf War, and Saddam had no power to get rid of them. They operated openly under the noses of US and British overflights, then ironically it was these installations the US and the British used in intelligence reports to justify the latest war in Iraq!

There are certain groups/individuals he did support. He gave money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers who attacked Israel and called the dead men "martyrs". There is no evidence that he leant support of any kind to any other terrorist organization; although both Osama Bin Laden and Abu Nidal had gone to Iraq for medical treatment (separately) at one point, experts on Middle East affairs believe the reason was that Iraq had the best medical facilities and doctors in the Middle East at the time, and no matter what the ideological differences, Saddam would not turn down a fellow Muslim for medical treatment (provided he had the cash!).

Saddam was not an Islamist; in fact he wasn't a very good Muslim! He drank, and he was famous for his leniency with the Christians (even appointing Christians to high positions in his cabinet).

As an aside, the Baath party Saddam Hussein belonged to is the same political party Bashir (Syrian president) belongs to. Syria also supports Palestinian militant groups, but we should not forget that when Bashir's father was alive, he rounded up and summarily executed over 250,000 Islamic terrorists (something a lot of people in the United States and the UK would like to see done today!), and Syria is the country of choice for non-Maronite Christians living in the Middle East because they are treated as equals and can practice their religion openly and freely there. (Maronites come from and prefer to remain in Lebanon as it is not only their ancestral homeland, they are given power under the Lebanese constitution).

Answer 3

While Saddam Hussein was undoubtedly a psychotic tyrant who viciously oppressed his fellow Muslims (shi'a) and Kurds, there was no evidence of al-queda activity in Iraq at all prior to the invasion....and they are all over Iraq now, thanks to the unbelievable stupidity and incompetence of the Bush administration.
Also, let's not forget it was the US government who pretty much got him installed in the first place since they knew he would fight Iran as much as he could. The USA & Britain armed him (Iraq was Britain's third biggest arms customer up until the first Gulf War), and he was the perfect pet dictator until he slipped his leash and got uppity.
The war in Iraq has nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden or al-queda or terrorism; it is about the Bush government getting its hands on Iraq's oilfields so they are not so massively dependent on Saudi Arabia. Don't be surprised if Hugo Chavez is next declared a terrorist and Venezuela is threatened with invasion anytime soon-Venezuela has huge oil reserves and a President that openly detests & mocks the US government

Answer 4

Well you hanged him, and his side of the story.
If he was in prison today, you could go interview him, since i doubt he would have been eligible for parole, he would have answered any questions you put to him....?

to answer your question, he wasnt a threat to anyone outside his own country, his military strengh had evaporated after Gulf war 1

Tony Blair told you we were 45 mins away from a saddam strike...he lied to you, he lied to me....hes gone- as good as dead too

Answer 5

I would say yes, but not like the USA portrayed him. His biggest beef was with Israel and the Arab nations in the oil cartel - Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. I am not sure if he ever funded any attacks in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait -outside of the first Gulf War. Popular belief is that he paid the families of Palestinian Suicide bombers. But, no Iraqi's ever committed suicide bombing in Israel.

Answer 6

Not nearly as much so as many other heads of state, such as U.S. presidents.

i.e. U.S. funding of terrorism in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Iran (1953 to 1979), Cuba, Chile, Hawaii, etc, etc.

Answer 7

History has not closed the book on him yet. I think he was as bad as Adolf Hitler. I am also sure that there are a lot of people that think he was a messiah. As is the case with Hitler. Give it fifty years and the world will tell.

Answer 8

No, he cared less about other countries' policies.. he was not religious... trust me.. he was a fake muslim.. and he was a sponsor of his own terrorism... in his country.... he was such a douche bag...

Answer 9

He was a terrorist to his own people and you know what they say, Birds of a feather flock together.

Answer 10

Yes. Paying the families of homicide bombers is just one example of how he did so.