Don’t you think it was naive to think if left in power, Saddam wouldn’t try to get his revenge?
“Don’t you think it was naive to think if left in power, Saddam wouldn’t try to get his revenge?”
I don’t think revenge was a realistic worry. Saddam’s main targets were his fellow Iraqis. In 1981 Israel sent a flight of F16s deep into Iraq and bombed Saddam’s Osirak reactor. In reaction Saddam executed his own air defense command. By the start of the 1st Gulf War in 1991 Saddam had done exactly nothing to Israel in revenge for Osirak.
This could be due to Saddam being preoccupied with his war with Iran. Or maybe he was worried about what Israel would do if he struck back. Whatever his reasoning, he did nothing against Israel until the 1st Gulf War when he fired Scuds at them.