Ah, I see . .. you think we're being too soft. . ..Saddam was the needed hard-ass to keep things in check. (ya?)
Yeah, we tried that . ..well Bush41 tried that. Remember that whole "push'em out of Kawaitt" thing? Lots of oil-wells burning.
I think that we pissed-off Saddam,
just a skosh. 
So what's a power-hungry dictator to do? Does he focus his rage on killing and tortering his own people?
Well ya . . but how long can fun like that last? . . .still lingers that empty, beaten feeling...poor innocent Saddam
So, Just maybe, somewhere in the last decade of hating the US, Saddam started thinking "outside the sandbox" . . .and he struck on some conduits to hit the US. This oil for bribes. . er . .FOOD, was a great angle.
As you've pointed out, Saddam would burn an Al Qaedea guy, no-problem. . . so here this OBL guy, funding from the family cut off, looking for a sugardaddy.
Here's a memo;
