THE pictures coming out of Iraq look very familiar.

Members of Saddam Hussein's moustachioed rent-a-crowd burn the USA flag while others hold aloft flattering portraits of Saddam himself and messages of hate for the West in general.

Once again the Middle East's principal trouble-maker is posturing and threatening to shatter the area's fragile peace.

This time he is refusing to admit US members of a United Nations weapons inspection team. He is using the old excuse that they are spies first and members of the inspection team second.

A more likely reason, according to some reports, is that the inspectors were getting close to discovering the location of stores of deadly VX nerve gas.

Saddam is a past master at deflecting attention from areas hiding his mischief and it looks as though he is at it again.

The tyrant of Baghdad will never quit of his own accord. And the chances of him being democratically removed are too remote to consider.

But until this loose cannon vanishes from the Middle East there is the danger of another major conflict in the area. His reign of sheer terror crushes any hint of opposition. His other weapon is international confrontation whenever he feels his people are showing outward signs of dissatisfaction. There is nothing like a rabble rousing tirade of hate against the Americans and British to get the citizens of Iraq rallying round this wily fox.

Saddam will exploit any loophole. And he knows full well that an organisation as large as the United Nations will have many conflicting views, particularly when it comes to dealing with a trouble maker.

Already France and Russia, two of the five members of the Security Council, have opposed the imposition of tougher sanctions on Iraq.

This will have been greeted with glee by Saddam and his toadies and will encourage him to press ahead with his mischief, and if it comes to confrontation with the Americans and British, as well it might, Saddam will not give a hoot.

He will not care if thousands of soldiers and civilians die. All that matters to him is hanging on to power.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.