US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that a long-standing US strategy of using sanctions and no-fly zones to contain Iraq is not working and it would be "fabulous" if Iraq were liberated.
"Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if Iraq were similar to Afghanistan?" he said.
"If a bad regime was thrown out, people were liberated, food could come in, borders could be opened, repression could stop, prisons could be opened. I mean it would be fabulous," he said.
He said the economic and political sanctions imposed on Iraq have not worked, but instead have tended to erode over time, while US and British air forces enforcing no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq have had little impact on Baghdad's air defenses.
"The big thing that was there was the weapon of mass destruction (WMD) issue. And he had agreed, and the UN had agreed that they would - he would not have a WMD program. We know he does have one. And he is continuing it," he said.
"So there is no way any reasonable person could look at that record and say that it's worked. It hasn't worked. And it's not working," he told a Pentagon news conference.
His comments marked the most direct US repudiation yet of the containment strategy that every US government since the 1991 Gulf War has pursued to keep Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in check, and another sign the administration is preparing for war.
Mr Rumsfeld's remarks came when asked about a warning by House Majority Leader Mr Dick Armey, a top Republican, against an unprovoked US attack against Iraq. Referring to Saddam Hussein, Mr Armey said: "My own view would be to let him bluster, let him rant and rave all he wants and let that be a matter between he and his own country," the New York Times quoted him as saying.