Before Bush and Cheney went charging in there like bulls in a china shop, Iraq was a stable (by Middle East standards) country with a very (by Middle East standards) secular population.
Their leader was a ruthless son of a bitch, but he kept the lid on things internally and he hated both Iran and al qaeda in equal measure.
Now... let's compare that situation with what we have going on there now
History will not view the Bush era kindly.