>I don't know how the US schools teach their kids world history ...

It's interesting to see how history is constantly being rewritten. I have a 20 year old copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica, the entry about Saddam Hussein cites several positive things he did in the region (but that was when the US liked him), the recent entries on him have dropped all references to the positive things he did & make him out to be bad from the outset.