General Norman Schwarz kopf, commander of US forces in the 1991 Gulf war, said yesterday the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, might be prepared to absorb a military strike as the key to ending sanctions against his country.
Gen Schwarzkopf, speaking on the NBC television programme Meet the Press, also predicted a US bombing campaign would have no effect whatsoever on Mr Saddam's defiance of the UN-enforced disarmament regime.
"He's got two problems," the retired army general said. "Number one, he wants the sanctions lifted and if the coalition fractures then he has a good chance of having the sanctions lifted. So therefore he may not mind a big strike. He may say it's worth taking a big strike if I can get the sanctions lifted."
The UN imposed sanctions against Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The Security Council has directed that they remain until Baghdad eliminates any residual weapons.
Gen Schwarzkopf said Mr Saddam's second problem was saving face "if he wants to back off from destruction of his country". Asked about the likely impact of the threatened US bombardment, Gen Schwarzkopf said: "I don't think it will change his behavior at all. His only interest is his place in history. He wants to be the second coming of Nebuchadnezzar [a king of ancient Babylon]."
"I think that he is perfectly willing to risk the lives of many, many thousands of people in his own country to accomplish his ends. And his ends are to go down in the history books as the guy that united the Arab world and thumbed his nose at the rest of the world."