Sanctions is a kind of warfare. "Submit or die". ISTR that what Iraq had to do to avoid the sanctions included not owning any weapons of mass destruction. Same as it had to do to avoid being destroyed in war. Saddam was a badass but what followed has been worse, and it is repeated elsewhere with similar effects. And it turns out that many of those oppressed by Ba'athists in Iraq and Syria turned out to be headchoppers after all.
To my mind those responsible for what is now a couple of million deaths in the endless wars from the US death machine (and its henchmen) could well be described as unpleasant regimes. Someone might want to bring them 'to heel'.