How influential was Stalin to Saddam's rule over Iraq?

How successfully did Saddam achieve his aim of creating a Stalinist state in Iraq? 

He was very successful. He was able to restrict the freedom of speech through his secret police and used propaganda, similar to Stalin, to promote himself as a leader. 

He was also a brutal dictator as he persecuted and killed around 180,000 Kurds and executed his opposition, however, he did not kill as many people as Stalin did, but this could be due to the lower population in Iraq and the higher population in Russia.