Saddam was obviously dangerous to his immediate neighbours. He had attacked Iran and Kuwait, the first with U.S. support and approval, the second with what he thought was U.S. support and approval, due to the diplomatic ineptitude of Ambassador Glaspie and/or her bosses in the U.S. Department of State. The notion that the U.S.A. or Great Britain had anything to fear from a gnat like Iraq or its leader is so fanciful as to be almost comical. You would really have to be in poor shape if a little rodent like Saddam could strike fear into the hearts of your leaders, and, truth be told, he never did. They coveted his oil and they concocted a phony excuse to go in and get it, as Britain had done in that region many times before. This time with U.S. muscle, but the stakes (in oil) were huge - - there was enough to go around. Where they fucked up was in their arrogance - - never dreaming the poor dumb fucking Arabs would put up the resistance they did.