Novelist and physician Salama al-Salhy told Al-Monitor, “Many people feel nostalgic for Saddam because during his era, the state was strong and the democratic experience post-2003 in Iraq failed to fulfill its sought-after goals for change.”

Kareem Hammadi, director of Al-Iraqiya satellite channel, which is affiliated with the Iraqi Media Network, told Al-Monitor he doubts the supposed nostalgia. Hammadi wonders if people missing Saddam’s days also miss Saddam’s Fedayeen — masked men hired to crack down on and kill his opponents — or the “special tribunals, intelligence dungeons, amputation of tongues and hands, and dishonoring people.”

He added, “Calling for the return of Saddam’s days is equivalent to taking the country back to international isolation and Baathist wars. … There are only a few people missing Saddam’s days.”

Saad al-Yasiri, a Shiite scholar from Hilla in Babil province, said he is surprised some people are actually lauding Saddam’s era. “Saddam executed four of my brothers in 1993 on the grounds that they were affiliated with an opposition Shiite party. There are hundreds of Iraqis whose children, siblings or relatives Saddam executed,” he told Al-Monitor. “The political and security problems in Iraq now stem from the Baath Party’s men and the remnants of Saddam’s regime, many of whom joined the Islamic State.”