AMMAN, Nov 28: The United States will certainly carry out an attack on Iraq but “the question is when”, Western diplomats familiar with US policies said on Wednesday.

According to these diplomats the campaign spearheaded by the United States following the September 11 strikes on New York and Washington “will certainly lead to strikes on Iraq”.

One Western diplomat said that Washington “is resolved to put an end to Saddam Hussein’s development of weapons of mass destruction and the risk that the Iraqi leader obtain nuclear weapons.”

“So the question is not if the United States is going to hit Iraq, the question is when?,” the diplomat said in Jordan.

These diplomats believe that unlike the 1991 US-led war to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, the United States is now more determined than ever and ready to take the risk of sustaining US war casualties.

A military campaign against Iraq will be essentially aimed at “breaking the regime of Saddam Hussein and destroying his armament,” one diplomat said.

He also disagreed with many Arab leaders who fear that an attack on Iraq will have “catastrophic” consequences.

“A real democracy in Iraq will be beneficial for many Iraqis and for Arab countries,” the diplomat said.—AFP