Risks ahead even if US topples Saddam, Senators told

The US must decide whether the Iraqi people would benefit from any move to topple Saddam Hussein, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said today.

"We cannot afford to replace a despot with chaos," said Senator Joseph Biden.

"The long suffering Iraqi people need to know a regime change would benefit them. So do Iraq’s neighbours, and the American people will want that assurance as well."

Biden’s comments came as the committee held a second day of hearings looking at what is likely to happen if the US succeeds in driving Saddam from power.

The Committee earlier heard experts predict that in such a scenario, the US would probably have to spend billions of pounds keeping Iraq stable and soldiers may have to be stationed in the Gulf region for years.

Meanwhile, Iraqi media said today that Saddam’s air force chief told the dictator his forces were ready to fight and win if the US invades.

A number of Iraq analysts generally agree that Baghdad must be stopped from developing biological, chemical or even nuclear weapons.

But there were differences about whether a US military invasion was the solution.

General Tommy Franks, who oversees the war in Afghanistan and would command any invasion of Iraq, said it was not the right time to discuss possible war plans.

"I think all of the speculation is not helpful with respect to Afghanistan or any of the other issues," said Franks, commander of the US Central Command.

Richard Butler, former chief UN arms inspector in Iraq, urged the US and Russia to make another joint effort to get Iraq to agree to serious weapons inspections. Inspectors have been barred since 1998.

Others warned that, if attacked, Saddam would probably unleash his weapons of mass destruction because he would have nothing to lose.

And any invasion and long term US presence would also be widely unpopular in the Arab world, and could threaten the leadership of Arab states friendly to the US.

"Even if the Iraqi people have a happy outcome, I believe that most people in the region will see this as American imperialism," said Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland.