There is not even a casus belli. Unlike 1990-91, there is no clear-cut aggression. The US administration has failed to establish any link between Iraq and the September 11 attacks. Blair had promised proof but has not yet delivered. In fact, the fanatics who attacked America came from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, staunch US allies. No US bombs have fallen on these American protectorates. Instead, more than 5,000 civilians have been bombed to death in stricken Afghanistan.

There is no persuasive evidence that Iraq has rebuilt weapons facilities dismantled after the 1991 war. Even if Iraq has small stockpiles of lethal chemical and biological weapons and some Scud missiles, Saddam will use them only if attacked. Even obedient weapons inspector Richard Butler told the US Senate that there was no evidence that Iraq had passed weapons technology to non-Iraqi terrorist groups. Scott Ritter, another former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, has said that the US has not produced enough hard evidence to justify an attack. Rolf Ekeus, the Swedish arms inspector from 1991 to 1997, accused the US last month of manipulating the UN mission for its own ends. The US was more keen on tracking Saddam's whereabouts, which "could be of interest if one were to target him personally".

Saudi Arabia was misled in 1991 by doctored evidence of Saddam's intentions. The stationing of US troops on sacred Arabian soil after the war is resented by Arabs and Muslims all over the world. They also oppose oppressive pro-US Arab regimes and their siphoning off of oil wealth. After September 11, most Muslims see the Arab-Israel conflict and US plans to attack Iraq as part of Crusade versus Jihad. In Saudi Arabia, the union of corrupt princes and fanatical Wahhabis is already under strain.  

Reports now emanating from the US say that Saudi Arabia should be treated as a US enemy because it supports jihadis all over the world. If necessary, its oil fields could be occupied. Anyway, after Saddam's replacement with a "democratic regime", Iraqi oil will be available as a replacement.

[`Alas the production of oil in Iraq has been disrupted by the resistance , falling  from 2.5 million in 2002  barrels to 1.8 millions last year]  

The morning after: Post-Saddam Iraq
What of the post-Saddam scenario? Who will run Iraq? In spite of Western belief, Saddam remains popular with the masses, who blame the embargo and frequent bombings for their misery. Given Iraq's 40-year history of repression, it is highly likely that blood will flow with the settling of old scores. And who would stop the Iraqi people turning against the occupying Americans?

What if a Shi'i state based in Basra declared independence with covert support from Iran? North Iraqi Kurds, almost autonomous since 1991, could also declare independence, leaving a Sunni-dominated center. This could tempt Turkey to move into Mosul and Kirkuk. To keep post-Saddam Iraq united would need security forces of around 75,000, costing about $15 billion, for a year or two, and a force of more than 5,000 for many years after if the reconstruction effort is to succeed. But would the result be any different than in Afghanistan?  

[ The resistance has made mockery of the western estimates of US troops to control  Iraq after the invasion. The Iraqis had expelled the occupying British forces after the first world war and assassinated the UK foisted Hashemite King.]

Most analysts scratch their heads, only to conclude that US options make little strategic sense. -- A US attack could dangerously destabilize the region, harm the global economy, and infuriate Arab and Muslim masses. Former British chief of staff Field Marshal Lord Bramall, warned in a letter to the Times that an invasion would pour "petrol rather than water" on the flames and provide al-Qaeda with more recruits. He quoted a predecessor who during the 1956 Suez crisis said: "Of course we can get to Cairo, but what I want to know is what the bloody hell we do when we get there?"

Conclusion: Raging bull

With its vast military-industrial complex, the US needs constant conflict, ie, wars or near wars, to justify its staggering expenditure. The only superpower, with the most destructive power at its command in history, has pretensions to be an imperial power without the grace or obligations that go with it. After the stunning events of September 11, it is behaving like a raging bull, as if its manhood had been castrated. But the enemy al-Qaeda, with its tentacles around the world, remains free and hidden. Attacking Iraq would give the impression that the flagging "war on terror" is going somewhere.  

The decline of the American Century
11 September, 2002 Atimes  

"When there is a general change of conditions, it is as if the entire creation had been changed and the whole world been altered." - Ibn Khaldun

"History is but glorification of murderers, criminals and robbers." - Karl Popper

It is the afternoon sun that dazzles onlookers though it is past its prime. That sums up the height of US power before last September 11. If the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki without fear of retaliation was the acme of the American Century, then the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, symbols of economic and military might, could be termed the beginning of the end of the American Century. 

 [The limitations of US's colossal powers of destruction have been exposed by Iraqi freedom fighters . US is now in fast decline]

US President George W Bush's spontaneous call for a "crusade" and "Infinite Justice" neatly expressed the reality better than the later slogans, "war on terrorism" and "Enduring Freedom".  

[Most Muslims believe that it is a Crusade]

After having thoughtlessly helped create the monster of Islamic fundamentalism, the United States has now succeeded in arousing it, ranging the might of Islamic people and their faith against itself. Earlier, the poor and the deprived could find solace and action in communist and leftist ideologies and programs, but after the dismantling of the Soviet Union, many in the Islamic world have taken to extreme religious movements.  

[US & Western powers, Arab and Muslim nations, China and even Israel helped create the monster of Islamic fundamentalism to fight against USSR in Afghanistan, spending many billions of US dollars. Pakistan is most seriously infected with the virus of terrorism. ]

For the first time in history, war has been brought to US territory, making it dar ul harab (the house of war). Even a normal air accident now shatters the jangled nerves and morale of New Yorkers. Apart from bearding the Western lion in its den, inflicting direct and collateral economic damage that may amount to as much as US$95 billion, September 11 globalized the feeling of insecurity and terror from which the United States had felt immune. 

[US administration has used the fear of attacks to get re-elected, help Military industry complex and rich friends , while reducing freedoms at home ]

The US spends a staggering amount of money to defend itself. But the innovative guerrilla air attacks that stunned the US pierced forever the myth of homeland inviolability. Those who live in glass houses cannot be immune from stones. The tens of billions of dollars spent by the US government on agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) could not protect Americans. And there is no guarantee that they can in the future. Apart from killing ill-trained Taliban and bombing to death thousands of innocent civilians, the combined special forces of the United States, United Kingdom and other allies have not been able to catch the main leaders of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Rather, a war scare is being created in order to pour trillions of dollars into national missile defense (NMD) and other defense projects, which will only fatten the pockets of the military-industrial complex and the corporate interests behind it.