Since the first Gulf war in 1991, Iraq has been contained. America has maintained continued presence in the ME regions at great cost to America. 9/11 sparked a method to remove this continued presence particularly since the Sauds wanted us out of Saudia Arabia.
There was nothing for Saddam to do. His policies and procedures were largely dictated by the UN; he couldn't just throw in the towel because of his own magnificence.
Saddam has not been contained since '91. He gassed over 40 villages after the Gulf War. He used the oil for food program to grow his WMD program from a multi-million dollar program to a billion dollar program.
The Czech government never backed away from reports about meetings between AQ and Iraq. Saddam patterned himself after Stalin and thought the way to control his corner of the world was with WMD and he became increasing irrational and dangerous after the Gulf War.
To consider him contained as a world threat after the Gulf War is naive at best.