That's the nature of humans, when they are not satisfied with something, they tend to stick to the past, even if it wasn't any better. Saddam is the sole reason that Iraq was attacked, came to verge of financial collapse and a human crisis and finally was invaded and overthrown. He killed tens of thousands of Kurds and Shiites, executed every single opponent, started 2 unnecessary wars that broke the country and now we are where we are.
it's like saying North Korea is better off now because it has no terrorist attacks. Groups like ISIS will not tolerate any Shia even breathing, let alone ruling a country. So, na matter how much mistakes Maliki has, it still doesn't matter because these scums want to eradicate every single Shia and 'infidels' from the globe. If it wasn't for Saddam's stupid policies, Iraq would be a major economic powerhouse in ME, even far better than countries like UAE or Qatar, because they didn't even exist when Iraq was a prosperous country in late 60s and 70s.
PS: I also forgot to say that many Sunnis were slaughtered because of his wars.