Our Israelite ancestors worshipped idols and today we have idols as well. Idols aren't just things like self image. People, such as preachers or talk show hosts, can also be idols.
Samuel's sons were corrupt, so it was right that the people should want them removed. However, rather than asking for the Lord to give them judges who couldn't be bought like they should have done, the people said they wanted to be like everyone else and have a king. Samuel warned them what their king would be like. Like government today, he would impose taxes and have the attitude towards the people's property of "I want it, so it's mine."
The reason the Ammonites wanted to take the right eyes of the people was so they couldn't fight back when they would eventually and inevitably want to get rid of their Ammonite oppressors. The right eye is the aiming eye, used when one is aiming a bow or a gun. This is similar to how governments want to disarm their citizenry today.
After the victory, the attitude was an idolatrous one, as was seen in earlier chapters. The people were basically worshipping Saul, saying, "Hey, Saul's just led us to victory in this battle. All these people who said they didn't want to have a king, let's kill 'em."
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