What would have been a better move was not stopping on the way to Bagdad at the end of the Gulf War. We had a huge coalition of nations including Muslim ones. Saddam would have been eliminated right there. I’ve never heard a rational reason why that war wasn’t finished correctly.
As others have said here, bad as they may’ve been, eliminating Hussein and Quadaffi created imbalances of power and warehouses for international terrorism in that region. HW Bush and allies knew this and what rebuilding would take and did not think it was worth it. Unfortunately W didn’t heed the same advice and look at the mess since.