Opinion: Benito Mussolini was no worse than some U.S. Presidents

[Meursault]

And was, actually, superior to quite  a few of them until his "conservative turn" in the late 1920s.

My biggest problem with Mussolini was his clampdown on his socialist ex-comrades. I realize he had to sell himself as an anti-socialist to secure his appointment, but once King Emmanuel did so, he had the latitude to be much more socialistic than he ended up being.

[Meursault]

Also, had he not given Hitler his permission for the Anschluss, it's possible he'd have thrown in with the Allies in World War II, provided he worked out the Mediterranean issues between England and Italy.

Really, he did only two unforgivable things: invade Ethiopia and begin co-operating in the Holocaust. And this latter was avoidable - Fascism was not anti-Semitic itself (there were prominent Jewish-Itallian Fascists), but Hitler pressured him into it.

[Meursault]

He was responsible for fewer deaths within Italy than Jackson and the Indian War Republicans were of Native Americans.

[Meursault]

I've already said that the Abyssinian War and his eventual surrender to Germany on racial issues were black marks against him.