Why was Saddam Hussein able to come to power in Iraq?

Well, it is obvious that he achieved becoming an extremely powerful man in his country because people feared him. It wasn't that they did whatever it was that he said, they feared for their safety. He was infamous for violating human rights. He didn't commit all human right violations himself per say, but he had people do it for him. Technically, it is the same. He was a really bad person. Hitler re-encarnated i'd like to think. He was a very unreasonable man. I mean... Come on, he was a dictator. Those kind of people never change their minds or what they believe in. He gained power off of his peoples fear. Which is why so many people of Iraq are at ease now that he was executed Evnthough he was their president.