The worst-kept secret of modern times was revealed today as the war against Iraq finally began just 90 minutes after US President George Bush's deadline for Saddam Hussein to quit the country passed.

The manner in which it started should have made it clear that this is not a war against Iraq or its people but a war against a military dictator whose record of atrocities inflicted on his own people is astonishing in its viciousness and its cruelty.

The attempt to end the war almost before it had begun with a clinical strike against Saddam and his lieutenants was audacious and well-conceived. It was a bold move which goes straight to the heart of a question that many people have asked: if this is only about Saddam, then why not simply assassinate him?

The notion of a cold-blooded killing, even of someone as despised as Saddam, is difficult for any civilised right-thinking person to contemplate - unless, of course, it would save countless lives and bring about the much-vaunted goal of regime change and liberation for the Iraqi people.

In the context of the commencement of war - and, apparently, based on up-to-the-minute intelligence - it was certainly worth a try. If nothing else, it may have helped to convince onlookers that George Bush was telling the truth this morning when he said this is not a war against Islam but a war aimed at crushing evil and oppression.