The hangings were public. How many people were taken in the night, and their bodies ended up in unmarked graves? According to this USAID report there are around 300 mass graves in Iraq that can be tied to the Baathist regime. http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/pdf/iraq_mass_graves.pdf

Washington warned against the formation of political parties in his farewell address at the end of his second term as president. Madison in Federalist Paper #10 warned about unchecked factions; he believed a plethora of divisions would serve to keep a group from becoming a majority and having a controlling share of power.