From that Independent stiry:

...By last night, the troops which overthrew Saddam Hussein a year ago this week, had been driven from five Iraqi cities after heavy fighting. Allied forces were under attack at both ends of the country.

Abu Hussam, an elderly man in Haswa just east of Fallujah, said: "We were pleased when the Americans overthrew Saddam's miserable regime but today our lives are worse than they were when he ruled in Baghdad." He said he hoped the insurgents would win. "

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the original intent of unseating Saddam, which was to remove the possibility of the lunatic right religicos getting their hands on WMDs

If Saddam had given any of that stuff (even if he'd had it) to "the lunatic right religicos", of either variety, the first thing they'd have used it for would have been to waste him. Noone who knew anything about the situation believed that line.