You mean to say that he would look at those massive protests worldwide and not believe they strenghtened his position? Supposedly, millions of people around the world hit the streets on that weekend. Blair's position looked especially vulnerable, and that could've resulted in the loss of 50,000 troops in the coalition. Turkey denied the US the use of their country as a staging area, weakening the chances for a northern front. All of those things strengthened Saddam's hand.

Now, suppose France and the other weasels had taken a strong stand against Saddam last fall. If Saddam saw that international resolve was solid against him and this time there was no wiggle room, there was at least a possibility, admittedly slim, that he might've taken the Baby Doc option and retired in luxury to spend his pilfered billions. However, when it appeared that he could get away with it once again, any chance of him accepting exile, no matter how small, vanished. A slim chance is better than none, but those protests emboldened him.