Without the first coup there would have been no second coup and no Saddam. And there doesn't seem to have been any evidence that the USA - or for that matter the USSR - were in any way concerned about Saddam taking power and purging any genuinely Socialist elements in the Ba'ath Party. He certainly had a great deal of help later - more epecially in support of his aggression against his neighbours in Iran.

The point is that he was a clear example of the horrible things that are invitred by a policy of "my enemy's enemy is my friend". Osam Bin Laden and co are another example. Hitler's rise owed a lot to that kind of thinking for that matter. And it would be only too easy for it to happen again, and it is only too likely that there are people working to achieve that kind of outcome.