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Will the US be justified in waging? Post your views

More than 10 years after the Gulf War, the United States and Iraq have locked horns yet again and are on the verge of a war that could have a crippling effect on world economy, not to mention the loss of innocent human lives and the untold miseries a war leaves in its wake. US President George W Bush seems determined to oust Saddam Hussein from his seat of power in Baghdad and thereby complete the business left 'unfinished' by his father in 1991.

Under the ceasefire that ended the Gulf War, Iraq was to destroy all its existing weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) with a range greater than 150 kilometres and halt any development efforts. The UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) was formed to carry out inspections and verify compliance.

Iraq had refused entry to weapon inspectors since 1998, but the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre (WTC) and Pentagon saw the US in an ever-more belligerent mood and demanded Iraq come clean on WMD or face consequences. A few weeks of tough negotiations later, the UN passed a resolution that paved the way for the return of arms inspectors to Iraq and made it obligatory on Iraq to fully co-operate with the former.

On December 7, a day before the deadline for Iraq to submit its report on possessions of WMDs, Iraqi officials delivered to inspectors a 12,000-page document which they claim proves the country has no weapons of mass destruction. But the US has refused to buy this argument and appears hell-bent on the use of military force even as reports emerge in the media of moves being afoot to persuade Saddam to go into exile and thereby avert a conflict.

Whether it is the democratisation of Iraq or its rich oil fields that is the aim of US is subject to debate. But as the US and Britain gear up to mount a quick, effective assault on Iraq reportedly sometime in the middle of February, the world waits with bated breath, exploring ways to avert a war it could well do without.