Barbara Ferguson, Arab News Correspondent

WASHINGTON, 17 December 2003 — As the jubilation settles over the capture of Saddam Hussein, questions remain about the validity of the US presence in Iraq.

“Saddam’s capture is further evidence that if a threat was posed by Iraq, and that certainly is debatable, the threat has been removed,” said Charles Pena, director of Defense Policy Studies at the Washington-based CATO Institute, in an interview yesterday.

Because no weapons of mass destruction have been found, Pena said it is time for the US to remove its troops and “hand the government back to the Iraqi people and let them determine their own future.”

The US, he said, should “get back to the real threat which is the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.”

Pena said the US is responsible for a “huge” vacuum in Iraq. “We created it when we removed Saddam Hussein from power. We are part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution.”

The Bush administration has waged an unnecessary war to dispose a dictator: “we started with weapons of mass destruction, then tried the Al-Qaeda angle, but in the end decided to focus on democracy.

“This is all about installing a government in Baghdad that is friendly to the US. Strip off the veneer and rhetoric — and this is all about putting a regime in Baghdad that will be friendly to the US,” said the CATO director.

Bush’s definition of democracies is ironic, he said. “We are using democracy as an excuse for everything that is going on in Iraq, and at the same time the president told the Taiwanese that they can’t be independent. How can you do that? If you truly believe in democracy, democratic values and giving people their liberties — which is what the president is saying about Iraq — then how can you tell another group of people who feel they are being repressed by a communist regime in Beijing that they can’t have independence? The administration’s polices are laced with hypocrisy,” said Pena.

Other experts share his perspective: “The early euphoria about Saddam’s capture being a turning point in the history of the US-Iraq relationship seems unwarranted,” said Dr. John Duke Anthony, president of the National Council of US-Arab Relations.

“They are saying this is the breakthrough needed to speed up the effort to democratize Iraq, but the evidence for such a reality is not present, and there is not a necessary linkage between what just occurred and the campaign to democratize Iraq.”

“There is a real need to restore physical security and stability to Iraqis who are currently not leaving their houses out of fear of being attacked. Anthony said increasingly large numbers of Iraqis feel their material well-being is rapidly deteriorating. “Without the assurance that Iraqis well-being is secure, despair will reign and no legitimacy will accrue for the foreign occupying power.”