The first stage of regime change may be drawing near with the possible removal of Saddam Hussein. But who or what would replace him? As the US races headlong into confrontation, the options range from embracing the status quo through to promoting what would effectively be the partition of Iraq.
Rarely has there been such fragmented thinking. Every interest group appears to have a different idea of what should be done. The US administration is internally divided and the simmering tension between the State Department and the Pentagon is hidden by the thinnest of veils. Middle East regional powers have their own distinctive agendas, all focusing on the preservation of Iraqi territorial integrity, but from differing geopolitical viewpoints. The international community is bitterly divided – just look at old and new Europe.
