[Zhang Fei]

[Because he couldn’t. Iran wasn’t a single entity in the region at odds with Saddam. It was pretty much Iraq against everyone else and it made a sort of status quo. ]

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Saddam could have rolled over all the Gulf kingdoms. He paused because he thought Uncle Sam might let him keep Kuwait, but definitely would not let him keep Saudi Arabia. The Saudi royals were petrified. They knew they could not keep him at bay. And guerrilla warfare would have done no good. Saddam would have killed them all, guerrillas as well as their civilian supporters. He did it to Kurds and Marsh (Shiite) Arab rebels alike.

[NorseViking]

“” “” Saddam could have rolled over all the Gulf kingdoms.”” “”

So what? There could have been Israel, Iran, Egypt and Lybia left for balance of powers.
And US has its own oil. It had oil back to 1990 too.
If Saddam had eradicated Gulf tyrannies there wouldn’t be 95% of Islamist terrorism.
No 9/11 for sure.