IMO - Had the Bush not taken out Iraq as he did, the Caliphate would now be fully established throughout the ME Saddam was a powerful enabler of the radical Islamic forces.
Um, no. Saddam saw such groups as a threat to his power and suppressed them. If you are head of a state that is composed of different ethnic and religious groups, you might be hostile organizations that claim to speak for one religious group in your country and want to join up with people of the same religion outside your borders. They threaten your authority and your power base, so if you're a ruthless tyrant, you deal with them ruthlessly. Is that really so hard to understand?