It seems, to put it mildly, a little premature to be fighting over the spoils of a war that has not yet been launched, and the politics at play are murky, to say the least. Nevertheless it’s worrying to read these claims by Kanan Makiya, an adviser to Iraq’s main opposition group. According to Makiya, the US has abandoned its plans to bring democracy to Iraq in favor of a continuation of Baathist rule (but without Saddam Hussein).

If that is indeed Washington’s longer term plan, it would be a mistake. An important element in the management of the war’s aftermath will be reconfirming the conflict’s moral legitimacy. That implies a thorough investigation of who did what in Saddam’s Iraq – a Baghdad Nuremberg, in effect.

And that’s something that would be impossible if Hussein’s cronies were left to run the show.

Why would the US act in this way? Well, according to Makiya (who has, doubtless, his own axe to grind) it’s the result of pressure from the Gulf States and, you guessed it, ‘Saudi’ Arabia.