Story highlights Donald Trump believes the world would be better off if dictators like Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi were still in power 
 
 Both Gadhafi and Hussein committed atrocities against their own people 
 
 (CNN) Donald Trump believes the world would be much better off if ruthless dictators like Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi were still in power. 
 
 "100%," Trump replied when asked that question in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper that aired Sunday on "State of the Union." 
 
 Trump said he believes Iraq and Libya, the respective countries of the since-deceased dictators, would be less fractured and promote a more stable Middle East if the two had not been forcefully pushed out of power. Hussein fell from power following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and Gadhafi was ousted following violent civil strife in 2011 that ultimately drew a NATO-led military intervention. 
 
 "I mean, look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Iraq used to be no terrorists. He (Hussein) would kill the terrorists immediately, which is like now it's the Harvard of terrorism," Trump said. "If you look at Iraq from years ago, I'm not saying he was a nice guy, he was a horrible guy, but it was a lot better than it is right now. Right now, Iraq is a training ground for terrorists. Right now Libya, nobody even knows Libya, frankly there is no Iraq and there is no Libya. It's all broken up. They have no control. Nobody knows what's going on." 
 
 Read More ||||| At a July 5 rally in Raleigh, N.C., Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told supporters that Saddam Hussein was a "really bad guy," but that "he killed terrorists. He did that so good." (Reuters) 
 
 RALEIGH, N.C. — Donald Trump praised Saddam Hussein at a campaign rally on Tuesday, embracing the dictator who oppressed Iraq for more than 30 years, aggressively suppressed dissent in his country and was widely considered one of the leading enemies of the United States. 
 
 "Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. Right? He was a bad guy, really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn't read them the rights — they didn't talk, they were a terrorist, it was over," Trump said as many in his audience of about 2,000 laughed on Tuesday evening. "Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism. You want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq. It's like Harvard. Okay? So sad." 
 
 This is not the first time Trump has praised Hussein or other dictators, although his comments Tuesday night gathered much more attention than his earlier remarks. In October, Trump said that the world would be "100 percent" better if dictators like Hussein and Moammar Gaddafi were still in power. In February, Trump said at a political event in New Hampshire that "whether you like Saddam Hussein or not, he used to kill terrorists" and now Iraq is a breeding ground for terrorists. 
 
 Although this stance is not a new one for Trump, some of his Republican colleagues rushed to distance themselves from the presumptive nominee Tuesday evening. During an interview on Fox News, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) pointed to Hussein’s record of human rights abuses and distanced himself from Trump without condemning the candidate directly. 
 
 Donald Trump seemed to praise Saddam Hussein at a July 5 rally, but it's not the first time the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said nice things about authoritarian leaders. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) 
 
 “He was one of the 20th century’s most evil people. He was up there. He committed mass genocide against his own people using chemical weapons,” Ryan told Fox News’s Megyn Kelly when asked for his reaction. “Saddam Hussein was a bad guy.” 
 
 Ryan dismissed several questions about his past criticism of Trump earlier in the interview, pointing out that he endorsed him last month but that he believes Trump is ultimately “far better to be commander in chief than Hillary Clinton in my mind.” But he added: “When he says things that I don’t agree with, I’m going to speak my mind,” he said. 
 
 Trump was joined at the Tuesday evening rally by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who is on Trump's shortlist of potential running mates. 
 
 Hillary Clinton's campaign jumped to condemn Trump's comments. 
 
 “Donald Trump's praise for brutal strongmen seemingly knows no bounds," said Jake Sullivan, a senior policy adviser, in a statement. "In reality, Hussein's regime was a sponsor of terrorism — one that paid families of suicide bombers who attacked Israelis, among other crimes. Trump's cavalier compliments for brutal dictators, and the twisted lessons he seems to have learned from their history, again demonstrate how dangerous he would be as commander-in-chief and how unworthy he is of the office he seeks.” 
 
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 Jose A. DelReal and Sean Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.
– Bernie Sanders was busily going after Hillary Clinton's blood Saturday night, Donald Trump was waxing poetic about the stability we used to enjoy under some of its bloodiest dictators. Asked Sunday by CNN's Jake Tapper if the world would be a more stable place if Moammar Gadhafi and Saddam Hussein were still in power, Trump responded, "100%." His full quote: "I mean, look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Iraq used to be no terrorists. (Hussein) would kill the terrorists immediately, which is like now it's the Harvard of terrorism. If you look at Iraq from years ago, I'm not saying he was a nice guy, he was a horrible guy, but it was a lot better than it is right now. Right now, Iraq is a training ground for terrorists. Right now Libya, nobody even knows Libya, frankly there is no Iraq and there is no Libya. It's all broken up. They have no control. Nobody knows what's going on." Trump turned his thoughts to the Benghazi hearing, adds the Hill, saying, "it was very partisan, and it looked quite partisan. The level of hatred between Republicans and Democrats was unbelievable. You’ve never seen anything like this." His solution: Donald Trump. "I’m going to unify," he said. "One of the big knocks on me was that over the years I’ve gotten along with Democrats and I’ve gotten along with Republicans, and I said that’s a good thing. As a businessman, I had an obligation to do that, to myself, to my family, to my company, to my employees. I get along with everybody. I will be a great unifier for our country."