Saddam the Improviser

Do something, anything, until you succeed. That seems to be the thrust of Saddam's strategy as he finds himself increasingly cornered by his own excesses and running out of options, says TIME senior foreign correspondent Johanna McGeary. This means that Saddam will continue to engage U.S. forces, as he did again on Monday, by targeting planes that are enforcing the northern no-fly zone. And it means that the U.S.will continue to counterattack with surgical air strikes. "These sorts of engagements will keep going on and on," says McGeary, "because for Saddam they are about the only way he can keep himself at the forefront of international attention. Otherwise the world might just simply forget him."

Saddam's catch-as-catch-can tactics mean unpredictability for the Arab world, something leaders of the region loathe. It's one of the reasons that leaders of both Saudi Arabia and Egypt indicated over the weekend that a Saddam-less region might be better for all concerned. One of Saddam's recent improvisations had been to call upon the people of U.S.-friendly Arab states to rise up in revolt -- in the hope of gaining sympathy from the masses, if not from governments. That tactic apparently backfired. "It's been no secret that many Middle East leaders have wanted to get rid of him for some time," says McGeary. "But with these latest pronouncements, some of these leaders have come to feel sufficiently emboldened to say it." Time to try something else, Saddam.