War with Iraq?

Miles Seeley, who knows the Arab world very well, says "To us, Saddam's words and action may seem "absurd," "cheeky," and uncivilized, but I find them pretty much in accord with Arab mentality and custom as I understand them. Faced with being told to do something he does not want to do, he will talk and talk: make promises, make excuses, evade and avoid, and change the subject. Faced with strong force and a real ultimatum, he will still try to somehow not do it, but in the end he will cave in. Then he will try hard to put the best face on it that he can. I would be interested if others with experience in the Arab world agree with me.

If I'm right, the above is what has always given me hope that we can avoid outright war. As our threat and number of troops in the region increase, Saddam seems to give in, little by little, to the inspection teams. Perhaps when he sees the prospect of invasion is imminent, he will give in more.

None of this will happen if Saddam believes his days are numbered no matter what he does. Then he may well want to go down in a blaze of what he considers glory, including unleashing his bio and chemical weapons and his missiles. That would make for a very dirty war indeed".

Ronald Hilton - 2/25/03