A thing that's often missed often these days in the Hussein narrative is that the US liked him when they helped empower him and he was doing what the US wanted, but they didn't like him when he wasn't aligned anymore.

This is pretty typical, which defies simple categorization. Most stuff makes more sense when you stop trying to fit the US into "good guy" or "bad guy" boxes, and try something more like "powerful, and powerfully self interested". It's more neutral than a lot of Americans are comfortable, but probably more empirical.

Agree trying to draw equivalence to US, and as you put it "a proper baddie" is silly. There aren't that many "proper baddies though", and the US has a decidedly mixed record on opposing vs. defending them.