The world’s dictators aren’t always opposed by people proposing democracy. For example we armed Syria’s dictator at that time because his opponent was DAESH/ISIL/ISIS/IS.
There were proto-groups that eventually conglomerated to form DAESH starting just after the USS Cole was bombed in Yemen in 1999. If you studied terrorism at the time or knew people involved in counter-terrorism you might have heard about those groups earlier.
That’s not to say the Invasion of Iraq in 2003 didn’t push these groups to prominence only that a version kind of existed before 3/2003.
Al Qaeda has existed since the early 1990s. They had people all over the Middle East at that time. They didn’t materialize in Yemen they knew US Naval ships refueled in the port and arranged for two suicide bombers to attack the Cole.
DAESH starts to form from groups of militants in the Levant who had contact and training with AQ elsewhere sometime between 2003-4.
I am really confused as to how you came to the conclusion you posted unless you have zero grasp on the parties involved and the history of this time period for this region.
Operation Cyclone had nothing to do with where Al Qaeda got c4. You might be shocked to find out you can buy explosives from all sorts of companies. Bin Laden’s construction company could get some for destruction contracts without having to go through the CIA. They could also buy it on the black markets around the world.