* During his reign, Saddam Hussein's executioners murdered over a quarter million Iraqi citizens, 5000 of whom were k**led by chemical weapons. Saddam personally executed over a dozen.

* During the 1st Gulf War, Saddam's troops set fire to 700 oil wells, spilling 60 million barrels of oil, and creating an environmental disaster. Over ten million cubic metres of soil was still contaminated as late as 1998. A major groundwater aquifer, two fifths of Kuwait's entire freshwater reserve, remains contaminated to this day. Ten million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf, affecting 1500km of coastline and costing more than $700 million to clean up. During the nine months that the wells burned, average air temperatures fell by 10 degrees C as a result of reduced light from the sun. The costs of environmental damage were estimated at $40 billion.

* The Iraqi Interim government, following Iraqi national law, reopened the Iraqi Special Tribunal over which 5 Iraqi Judges presided. It is the only court of its kind in the 21st century in which crimes against humanity are punished by death.

* This tribunal tried Saddam Hussein, Ali Hassan al-Majid (also known as "Chemical Ali"), former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, former deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and other former senior officials in the deposed Ba'athist regime. Saddam was sentenced to death and, on December 30, 2006, the execution was carried out at an Iraqi army base in Kazimain, a neighborhood of north-east Baghdad.

Ali Hassan al-Majid received five death sentences for genocide, crimes against humanity (specifically willful k*****g, forced disappearances and extermination), and war crimes (intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population). He was also sentenced to multiple prison terms ranging from seven years to life for other crimes. In the event, al-Majid received 8 death sentences, and was hanged on January 25, 2010.

Taha Yassin Ramadan (a ruthless SOB) was hanged on March 20, 2007.

Tariq Aziz died in prison of heart failure.

"War is hell!"
WTS

"It is well that war is so terrible, lest we should grow too fond of it."
R.E. Lee

Has there ever been a war or even a major battle fought in which no civilians or other non-combatants were k**led?
I can think of one.

Is there really such a thing as a surgical weapon that k**ls only combatants?
Maybe a collateral damage avoidance bomb?

By what standard do you justify your support for and defense of brutal dictators and world class thugs?