Margaret Thatcher was right about Saddam Hussein and we must learn lessons of history – Scotsman comment

According to a newly released Downing Street memo, Margaret Thatcher and her Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd agreed that Saddam Hussein was a “selfish, despotic dictator” who was “behaving like Hitler” after he sent Iraqi troops to invade Kuwait in 1990.
Margaret Thatcher right judged that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was acting 'like Hitler' when his forces invaded Kuwait in 1990 (Picture: PA)Margaret Thatcher right judged that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was acting 'like Hitler' when his forces invaded Kuwait in 1990 (Picture: PA)
Margaret Thatcher right judged that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was acting 'like Hitler' when his forces invaded Kuwait in 1990 (Picture: PA)

The West took military action with a multinational coalition driving Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait, although he remained in power until after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

If only the democratic world had realised the dangers of consorting with such a leader in the years before 1990 when he was seen by some as an important ally in the region and a check on Iran.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Similar dictators exist today. There are also far more powerful ones in the form of China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who has successfully corrupted his country’s democracy and invaded another, Ukraine.

There will always be the temptation to treat autocracies like ordinary members of the international community, to sign trade deals and make other agreements for mutual benefit.

The danger is that such deals increase the power of dictators who, like Hussein and Putin, are prepared to kill people in the pursuit of even more.

Democratic countries have to engage with all the world’s nations, but where dictatorships are concerned must do so cautiously and with an eye to the preservation and promotion of freedom, rather than economic interests alone.

Winston Churchill realised the dangers posed by Hitler well before the Second World War, warning in 1937 of the “spread of Nazi tyranny over countries which now have a considerable measure of democratic freedom”.

We can only hope the West’s current leaders are blessed with similar foresight.

Comments

 0 comments

Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.