Arab analysts do not believe the US military build-up in the Gulf is designed as a distraction from the sex scandal engulfing the White House, as do some Western commentators.
The Arabs see the deployment as a substitute for political pressure on Israel to honour its treaty commitments to the Palestinians and a means by which the US can avoid fulfilling its role as guarantor of the peace process.
Indeed, the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, has complained bitterly that the focus of world attention has shifted from the real regional crisis represented by the deadlock in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations to a sideshow in the distant Gulf.
While US and British politicians assert that Iraq continues to conceal enough weapons of mass destruction to wipe out humanity, none of Iraq's immediate neighbours credits these claims, not even Kuwait which is particularly sensitive to any emanation of threat from Baghdad. Arab analysts quote inconsistencies between the proclamations of US and British politicians and assessments of qualified military analysts.
For instance, the Arab press picked up a story from a US news agency reporting that in the opinion of US intelligence officials Iraq "probably has little in the way of a ready chemical or biological arsenal although its manufacturing capability is probably still in place".
The Arabs were also reassured by a report from the US Defence Intelligence Agency which said that the Iraqi armed forces were in disarray, due to low morale, purges in the command structure and lack of spare parts for weaponry.
In the absence of a perceived threat, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and Qatar as well as the 22-member Arab League have come out firmly against military action.
Even the staunchly anti-regime opposition-in-exile, the Iraqi National Congress (INC), expressed its opposition to a new bombing campaign.
The INC head, Mr Ahmad Chelabi, observed that such an offensive would neither topple Saddam Hussein, nor compel Iraq to grant "unfettered access" to suspect but sensitive sites to UN inspectors seeking to discover and destroy any remaining weapons of mass destruction.
In the absence of clear proof of the existence of such weapons, the Arabs have concluded that the real aim of the US and UK is to destroy the power base of the Iraqi regime.
However, a bombing campaign which targets presidential palaces, barracks and bases of the elite Republican Guard and the military infrastructure could so weaken Baghdad that it would no longer be able to exercise effective control outside the central portion of the country, splitting it into a Kurdish north, Sunni centre and Shia south. For the Arabs this is a far more serious threat than Iraq's defiant refusal to grant the UN free access to suspect locations.
Finally, since 1990-1991 perceptions have changed. Regional rulers supported action against Iraq while it occupied Kuwait. But today both they and their people see Iraq as a victim of Anglo-Saxon persecution because of the widespread suffering caused by sanctions (1.2 million Iraqis have died from a lack of medical supplies and nourishing food). For the Arabs, Turks and Iranians military action which would kill more Iraqis is totally unacceptable.