As an Iraqi, I learned about the values on which the United States of America was built during an exchange semester in the US. I admired those values and respected Americans for believing in them. But Donald Trump contradicts some of those very principles. In a speech on Tuesday, I heard him praise the way Saddam killed “terrorists” without reading them rights or even letting them talk. This is not the American system that I was taught – nor these the values I respected.

“Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. Right? He was a bad guy, really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn’t read them the rights, they didn’t talk, they were a terrorist, it was over,” Donald Trump said in his speech.

It is true that Saddam killed many people. Saddam killed men and women, kids and minorities and many others who stood up to him. Most of them were not terrorists, though. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been wasted under his leadership/dictatorship. Iraq, in his opinion, might have looked better during his time, but Iraqis back then suffered greatly.

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Saddam led Iraq into long wars lasting several years, during which Iraqis had to fight for what he believed in. He committed genocides against his people and eventually Iraq had up to 250 mass graves spread around in the country. Saddam went after anyone who opposed him – he didn’t care about violating basic human rights or democracy.

Through such acts, Saddam was able to instill terror in his people, making them afraid to whisper a word. That is how Saddam dealt with terrorism, by terrorizing everyone so no one would be able to speak or stand up to him. In that way, the state looked orderly and people seemed in a better place than right now.

Trump called Iraq a “Harvard for terrorism”, adding: “You want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq.” You know what, Mr Trump? You are referring to a country that is trying to stand on its feet. You call a country that is trying to recover from wars, sanctions and sectarianism a school of terrorism – while it is actually fighting terrorism. Iraqis are fighting the Islamic State, maybe on behalf of the world. The US and many other countries are trying to help Iraq to eradicate terrorism. And yet this is what you call us.

Life in Iraq right now is not better or worse than it was during Saddam’s time. We just replaced one kind of suffering with another. We changed from a brutal dictatorship to smaller dictators, who are empowered by their followers to profit their group or party.

Nowadays Iraq suffers from terrorism, corruption, sectarianism and poor management of the state. We have regular explosions and the economy is hitting rock bottom while the political elite are fighting amongst each other. The majority of them do not care for the Iraqi population or the future of Iraq but work according to personal and partisan interests.



This is not the first time Donald Trump has praised dictators. Back in 2015, he claimed that the world would be a better place if both Saddam and Gaddafi were alive. What scares me the most is not this one man’s opinion. What scares me is the risk of this man heading one of the world’s strongest nations.

As millions of Americans chant for him to build giant walls, kick communities out and execute people without interrogating them, I wonder: what will happen if Donald Trump becomes the US president?



There are a lot of things that are wrong in this world. Let’s not add one more to the list.