Saddam was a good muzzie zoo keeper and a natural enemy of Iran. I think Bush Sr. was wise to keep him in place. Jr. Boooosh made a mistake invading Iraq—not that Saddam wasn’t a bad man but keeping him as the heavy-handed zookeeper over the radicals would have spared a ton of hassles and grief.
The Saddam Hussein post-Gulf War I, was a different man than the one before.
You cannot kick a man’s ass, then leave him in power afterwards, free to plot his revenge.