There are well documented reasons why Bush went into Iraq but I have always believed a major factor was the fact that Saddam tried to assassinate his father. That ... I can understand.
They should left a harsh dictator in place.
“They should left a harsh dictator in place.”
That seems to be what is required in the Muslim world. I think Bush the Elder understood that, and it’s why the Kuwait War stopped at the Iraq border.
But Dubya was heavily influenced by the band of neocon goofballs he surrounded himself with, and Dubya’s philosophy was closer to Woodrow Wilson on steroids than anything resembling foreign policy realism.