Why should he? Maybe Putin is smart enough to recognize the fact that Iraq is one of the few muslim countries that the Christian West can coexist with... you know, a secular, hardcore dictatorship. Iraqi or Turkish-style gov't is the only way of controlling a fanatical muslim citizenry. When you get your way, and those idiots in DC invade Iraq and topple Hussein, look for the same thing to happen there as happened in Iran and Kosovo and Afghanistan - anti-western jihad!
When people like me were posting in opposition of the attack on Serbia and were outnumbered 20:1 here during that brutal assault on fellow Christians, I felt the same frustration as I do now on the Iraqi issue, watching helplessly as we destroy another potential friend and ally and create another violent, bloodthirsty, anti-western islamic enemy state.