A lot of people talk now about how Saddam Hussein was a secular, albeit dictatorial influence on the Middle East and how his deposition created a very unfortunate power vacuum. I would say that it is clear that he had become deeply Islamist during the late 90s and was making some dangerous links with terroristic groups, but I cannot say how far he would have gone.
Had Saddam never been deposed in 2003, say that Bush's advisors are more from the Compassionate Conservative field and while he does react to 9/11 as OTL and kick the Taliban out of power, he does not see a need to invade Iraq, things might have been different.
But essentially, Saddam's growing radicalism is something that I think could only have bad consequences in the future, and I'd like to know what people see happening long term.
Does he start a war with Iran at some point, or does he somehow openly link himself to Al Qaeda and therefore provoke the West? Or would he somehow regain his sanity and decide to preserve himself by kowtowing to NATO? Do you think Saddam would do alright in the Arab Spring, or do you think that the Arab Spring is butterflied away by him still in power? How would you see this going down? Is he still in power today?
And what would be the result of one of his sons taking control of more state functions? Does a radical Saddam favor Qusay or Uday more?