A distinct feature of democracies and open societies is that even the question of war-making and process of fighting can be publicly scrutinised and debated in the nation's legislative assembly and in the mass media.

For those who have no knowledge of how the US Congress or British Parliament and the media debated the build-up to World War II in the late 1930s and early 1940s, last year's US-led war on Iraq would have provided another opportunity to see the workings of democracies and open societies.

The circumstances are dissimilar in many respects - the alignment of forces and ideas are different, as are the weaponry and strategies employed. What remains the same is the commitment to free thought and expression before, during and after the invasion.

In the case of Iraq, scandals involving the coalition's military personnel were exposed, investigated and punished according to due process, for causing harm to those in their custody.

Britain's world-renowned military historian and Daily Telegraph defence editor John Keegan, who covered the war, has just published his observations, analysis and opinion in 'The Iraq War'. (New York, Knoff, 2004; originally London, Hutchinton, 2004)

Keegan, a prolific writer on military and war history, is a graduate of Britain's Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, where he also lectured for several years. His books include 'A History of Warfare' (London, Pimlico,1994) and 'The First War World: An Illustrated History' (London, Pimlico, 2002).

It is evident that he possesses intellectual quality and the ability to capture issues in layperson's terms. Also interesting is that he does not impose his views, but reasons out his opinions in persuasive manner.

Deep understanding

Keegan's latest book reflects his knowledge of military affairs and strategies, operations in the theatre of war, and the political history of the Middle East. He also displays understanding of Islamic thinking and politics, and international relations.

He pins the coalition's swift success in Iraq on a combination of weaponry, strategies, operations, tactics, politics, intelligence operations and the deployment of troops - only in the area of of diplomacy was abject failure recorded.

Keegan says a major reason for the collapse of President Saddam Hussein's leadership within 21 days was the massive desertion of Iraqi regulars and military commanders, especially in the southern region bordering Kuwait. Also, most Iraqis were unenthusiastic about offering resistance.

"Much of the population of Iraq, the ordinary town dwellers and country people, exhibited a complete indifference to the war going on around them, carrying on their everyday lives apparently oblivious of its dangers," he says.

"(This is because) Saddam had waged war against Iraq itself, repeatedly, relentlessly, revengefully... (he) had exhausted the will of the population to do anything for him."

The wars were, as we know now, the murderous and systematic repression of Iraqi Kurds, Shiites, Jews, communists and even intra-regime dissidents who share his Sunni Islam faith - such as soldiers and military officers who were suspected of personal disloyalty.

The use of chemical weapons against Iranians and Iraqi Kurds, as well as Saddam's decisions to unilaterally launch attacks against Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Israel are also recalled in a historical context that shows a clear pattern of personal and regime behaviour.

The mass graves, discovered after Saddam was ousted, indicate that crimes against humanity may have been committed.

The sight is reminiscent of Pol Pot's 'killing fields' in Democratic Kampuchea. In the late 1970s, their discovery had been dismissed by Noam Chomsky and Malcolm Caldwell as reactionary propaganda of the Western media and the Anglo-American military-industrial complex.

Assumed images

According to Keegan, the secularist-minded Saddam was also a political opportunist who manipulated Islam according to shifting strategic needs.

Saddam, for example, did not bother very much about his personal religious credentials, although after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, he began to appear as more Islamic.

Keegan also observes that even Saddam's Arabism was irrelevant.

"Had he been born German or Russian in the age of the dictatorships - and he greatly admired Stalin - he would have understood how to exploit disorder and instability to his advantage and could well have risen to dominance in the Nazi or Marxist-Leninist systems."

His megalomania and narcissism were illustrated by statues and portraits put up all over Iraq. This is deemed to be idolatry by the standards of Christianity, Islam, Judaism and possibly, Buddhism.

Like Caligula, Nero and Commodus - the pagan emperors of ancient Rome - Saddam attempted to usurp the position, power and glory that all major religions ascribe to a supreme being.

Against this backdrop, the debate over the absence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is pedantic.

Even without WMD, the crimes against humanity inside Iraq and in neighbouring countries would have sufficed to prompt a timely, decisive and unapologetic humanitarian intervention.

Keegan, who interviewed US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (photo) and Commander-in-Chief of the US Central Command, General Tommy Frank, says Operation Iraqi Freedom was devised in 1995 - five years before George W Bush took over from Bill Clinton as US president.

"Objectively, the world was undoubtedly a safer place as the result of his (Saddam's) downfall, besides being morally purged of one of the most wicked dictators of modern times," he adds.

Note: Part 2, on Thursday, will consider how Europeans and Muslims view the war on Iraq.

JAMES WONG WING ON is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia. He is a former DAP member of Parliament for Kampar (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily (now Sin Chew Daily). He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.