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The U.S. supported Saddam Hussein against Shiite interests unifying Iran-Iraq in their war of the 1980's (date?).

Saddam Hussein's cruel rule since then was probably half from necessity of keeping down a Shiite majority in the region and superseding all sectarian differences in a territory invented by foreign powers after WWII.

The U.S. hobbled Saddam Hussein when he struck out against U.S. interests in the 1990's, in the Persian Gulf War.

The U.S. waged a PR campaign agains Hussein following the Gulf War that kept him hobbled and eventually set the stage for invasion and his deposition after 9/11

With Hussein gone and the U.S. the dominant military power in the territory formerly known as Iraq, sectarianism and Shiite majority interests suppressed under Hussein have re-emerged.

The probable impossibility of containing Shiite self-interest from expressing itself across Iran-Iraq was predictable, and has manifested itself as the US tries to achieve it with limited recourse to the brutal methods of Saddam Hussein.