True.
Saddam’s Islamic beliefs were cosmetic. He was basically a secularist Fascist thug with a military force and used Islam as a veil to cover his personal drive for power.
Not being a true Islamist, he made things for non-Islamic Christians there much better. But he financed and aided international terrorism against Israel and Jews for personal political reasons.
Saddam's Iraq was also a Soviet client state during the Cold War, hence the profusion of Russian-made weaponry used by the 'insurgents'.