Finding Saddam was important once the war was started. To have let him slip away would have meant an incomplete victory. That said, the war didn’t produce a strategic victory anyhow. Iraq is now a near-province of Iran and Christianity in Iraq and Syria has been all but wiped out.
A reasonable historical perspective, though one we never expected when we were living through this time. At least I never did. I hoped for the best outcome, and believed it would happen. The worst thing for me is, as you say, seeing how Iran now dominates and Christians are endangered. It’s horrifying, actually.