In my opinion, the war in Iraq could have been avoided if the Saddam Hussein regime had not been emboldened by the anti-war protests and the self-interested diplomatic opportunism of France, Germany, Russia and China.

By all objective accounts, Iraq is ultimately no match for the Coalition forces in terms of the number of troops and superiority of the weaponry. Saddam's regime will certainly be defeated, and his defeat is o­nly a matter of time.

Knowing these for a long time before the outbreak of the war, the anti-war protesters and members of the Security Council should have mounted pressure o­n Saddam to step down and go into exile. Saddam could have also have been advised publicly that there is no match between his forces and that of the Anglo-American coalition.

That could have saved lives, both the ordinary Iraqis and the Anglo-American soldiers.

Unfortunately, in their egoistic zeal to oppose the US for the sake of opposing, or for their self-interests, the anti-war protesters and nations did nothing except to disagree with everything the US or UK proposed. Their opposition has been misread by Saddam as a sign that the protesters or the protesting nations would help him to win the war, or to stop the US-led Coalition from launching it.

Saddam's propaganda system inside Iraq also exploited the news coverage of the anti-war demonstrations and disunity of the Security Council to mislead the innocent people into believing that they would be protected by "people and nations of the world". This mistaken and misguided belief seems to have caused many innocent lives in Iraq.

The anti-war protests have enlarged Saddam's ego and hubris without the people of Iraq having sufficient firepower to match the Anglo-American forces.

The reality is now clear. The anti-war protesters and nations can o­nly talk but cannot act to protect the Saddam regime from US firepower. Neither can the United Nations.

All roads to hell are indeed paved with good intention.

What we all can hope is that the Saddam regime could be defeated and uprooted as soon as possible so that the war could end early.