Trump praises ‘terrorist killer’ Saddam Hussein

Donald Trump repeatedly slammed Hillary Clinton at a rally in North Carolina Tuesday night, but had high praise for the terrorist-fighting abilities of one late world leader — Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. “Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, right? He was a bad guy, really bad guy,” Trump said.

“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,” Trump said in Raleigh. “Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism.” Asked later Tuesday on Fox News about Trump’s praise, House Speaker Paul Ryan looked shocked.

“He was one of the 20th century’s most evil people,” Ryan said of the former Iraqi strongman, who was captured by US troops and later executed after a trial. Trump had earlier said that Iraq and Libya — countries that have become ISIS strongholds — would be in better shape today if Hussein and the late Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi were still in power.

Saddam was universally recognized as the head of one of the world’s most murderous dictatorships, as well as a supporter of international terrorism.