Would you have left Hitler in power, even though his capacity to wage war had been destroyed?
Saddam was no longer “useful” after the First Gulf War. The US became his main enemy.
OK-lets follow your line of reasoning and say we took out Saddam in the first Gulf war. So he was replaced earlier lets just say. You trust the PC run US Govt to come up with a good plan to replace Saddam? I posit that we would be singing the same tune regardless if Saddam got booted by Sr or Jr Bush.