NEW DELHI -- Which country poses a serious threat because of its established links with international terrorism, proven program to develop weapons of mass destruction and close ties with other dictatorships in WMD-related matters? To a resident of New Delhi, the answer may be obvious: Pakistan, bristling with dangerous extremists inside and outside its armed forces and engaged in covert WMD cooperation with the communist regimes in Beijing and Pyongyang.
But to U.S. President George W. Bush and several of his advisers, the answer is Iraq, a starving, humbled country that has reeled under oppressive international sanctions for 11 years and whose WMD projects were methodically dismantled by U.N. inspectors over several years before they were expelled for refusing to acknowledge their mission was over.
In the current din in the United States over whether to wage war on Iraq or find other ways to change the regime there, an undeclared Bush policy is emerging -- demand democracy in enemy states and support oil-friendly dictatorships.