What would the Middle East be like if the US didn't invade Iraq (either time)?

[Scootaloo]

2. He DID try to expand into Saudi Arabia

Which is the only reason the US got involved. We parked in Saudi Arabia, just watching saddam assfuck Kuwait, because, well.. .we told him he could. Problem was he rolled into a Saudi town just over the Kuwait border., the saudois flipped their shit, and since Uncle Sam shares a bed with king Abdullah, we mobilized.

A probably more relevant question is.. .What would hte Middle east look like if the United States hadn't used Iraq aas a proxy for a war against Iran?

Saddam wouldn't have been able to centralize his authority. he probably would have died in a coup at some point in the 80's - a common fate for dictators who have more brawn than brain. Iraq would still probably be a pretty awful place as far as civil liberties are concerned, but it wouldn't be wrecked by thirty years of war today.

And across that border, a somewhat similar story - Before Iraq's invasion of Khuzestan, Iran's revolution had a strong progressive / leftist component. it might sound weird that Theocrats and leftists would be breaking bread together, but Pahlavi was just that hated. However once the war broke out, the religious and the right were able to capitalize on it to seize power in Iran - the left and dissidents against the war were, of course, dubbed "counter-revolutionaries' and were either imprisoned as traitors, or - worse - sent to the front as new conscripts.

No US support for Saddam means no massacre of Kurds or Shia in Iraq. it means a more moderate Iran and certainly a more prosperous Iraq. it means there is no 2003 war that destabilizes the region and leads to the insanity we see now.

Twenty years from now, we'll be asking "Gosh, what if the US hadn't backed Fattah al-Sissi's coup?"