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Though the killing of Saddam Hussein's two sons may have dealt their father's morale a crippling blow, American soldiers who sense they could have the former Iraqi leader cornered must be on their guard, for Saddam and his clique are not the only enemy they face.
Even if few heed Saddam's call to arms, aired in a tape apparently recorded before Uday and Qusay went down fighting US forces, analysts doubt that he and his sons alone have been behind all the guerrilla attacks that claimed two more American lives on Wednesday.
Grievances over the US invasion and militant Islam could fuel low-level warfare for some time.
"Is the resistance only coming from Saddam loyalists? No," said Hafez Alwan Humadi, assistant dean of the political science department at Baghdad University.
Many Iraqis with no love for Saddam or wish to see him back have been angered by the US occupation, including those who have lost family, property or privilege through the war, he said.
"I do not think that Saddam and his two sons are a very important part of the resistance," said Wamidh Nazmi, a politics professor at Baghdad University. "If they have any role it is a minimal one."
British journalist and Saddam biographer Patrick Cockburn said: "Yes, you had many people in the Republican Guard, the army, the security forces who did better under Saddam.
"But they may not have been fighting to get Saddam back. They may have been fighting for other reasons: nationalism, Islamic fervour and local friction with the Americans or with those co-operating with the Americans."
Various shadowy groups, including at least one claiming affiliation to bin Laden's al-Qaida network have made claims of responsibility for dozens of attacks that have killed 41 US soldiers since Washington declared the war over on May 1.
Western security experts also doubt that the deposed ruling clan and its shattered Baath party power structure are capable of organizing a co-ordinated resistance campaign from their - probably - scattered places of refuge.
That means what has been happening so far may not be greatly affected by the deaths of Uday and Qusay. "There should be little impact from the events of Tuesday night," said Bruno Tertrais of the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris.
US officials themselves concede there could even be an uptick in "revenge attacks."
A group of masked men appeared on an Arab television channel on Wednesday vowing retaliation.
But many doubt Saddam has sufficient followers left or the resources to mount any credible threat in Iraq or abroad.
"He could turn suicidal now that his sons, who had been groomed to succeed him, are no longer available. Or he could mobilize his last remaining forces to do harm to the coalition in an act of rage, maybe a spectacular attack," Tertrais said.
"But...if he has some means left, why hasn't he used them by now?"
(China Daily July 25, 2003)
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