ISLAMABAD -- The Bush administration's race to take Baghdad, the grand finale in its military campaign, leads to many questions about what may turn out to be a much more lethal war than expected against an Islamic country. The United States may be heading toward military victory, but the conduct of the war thus far has already set the pace for a political defeat.
Iraq's embattled President Saddam Hussein may be forced from power, yet the departure of his regime will hardly work to pacify the divisions emerging between the predominantly Islamic countries of the oil-rich Middle East and the U.S.-led industrialized world.
The wounds dealt to the region surrounding Iraq will hardly have a chance to heal if a large segment of the population questions Washington's motives. Already the cry of "double standard" has been heard across large parts of the Islamic world. Many demonstrators have taken part in antiwar protests, denouncing Washington's tolerance of Israel's acquisition of weapons of mass destruction while its suspicions that Iraq possesses the same serves as a pretext for war.