Perspective: Waiting to Pounce; as MPs Today Debate the Crisis in Iraq, Richard McComb Argues That US-Led Military Action against Saddam Hussein Is Inevitable. in Fact, the War Has Already Begun

Byline: Richard McComb

It is only weeks away, perhaps a few months, but the script has already been written.

Sometime around 11pm, as newspapers prepare for their final editions, the story will start breaking.

Television channels will be switched to CNN and the familiar refrain will come in over the satellite link: 'We are getting reports of explosions over Baghdad.'

Within hours there will be fuzzy pictures of green blobs on blackened screens and bright red lights streaming through the darkness. The tracer fire will spew out over the Iraqi capital and officially we will be at war.

British airmen and troops will have been committed to backing the United States in the most clinical military onslaught ever unleashed. And for one of the leading combatants, George W Bush, there will be an added piquancy to the proceedings.

The war in Afghanistan may have been spurred by a national clamour for revenge for the attacks on America. But this time it is Saddam. This time it is personal.

Public support for an assault on Iraq, both in the United States and within the international community, is …

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Publication information: Article title: Perspective: Waiting to Pounce; as MPs Today Debate the Crisis in Iraq, Richard McComb Argues That US-Led Military Action against Saddam Hussein Is Inevitable. in Fact, the War Has Already Begun. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Birmingham Post (England). Publication date: September 24, 2002. Page number: 11. © 2009 Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd. COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group.

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