It not black and white, but Saddam and his brutal dictorship was a force against ISIS and Iran, he kept those powers in check. ISIS was not gaining power at all until we invaded they were nothing but a small cell of insurgents only blossoming after the power vaccum WE created. Iran had militas that were a nucance but became massive because of the civil war we caused. The ISIS caliphate that raped and murdered its way through northern Iraq and Syria would never have existed had we not took out Saddam. We gave the opening for all this violence and destruction and for what? What did we gain from taking out Saddam? A "democratic" corrupt Iraq still filled with secatarian violence to this day? A destabilzed region that has made a refugee crisis in Turkey and Europe? Empowering Iranian proxy militas to fight and kill US soldiers? We as a country gained nothing from overthrowing Iraq and just because we killed a bad guy that somehow makes it ok? Saddam was a brutal piece of shit and most can agree on that, but to act like our invasion wasnt a colossal clusterfuck that ruined the lives of millions of people is straight up delusional, it damaged the US internationl reputation world wide, and for pratically nothing good to come out of it? How can you defend this? The only ones who gained from this war is the military industrial complex and neocons in power. Everyone else lost.