BOBBY FISCHER may be spouting anti-American claptrap from some hideyhole somewhere, but Garry Kasparov — who can also kick Fischer’s lardy ass around any chessboard anywhere — sees things rather differently:

America’s European allies will join the action against Saddam Hussein, or at least not openly oppose it. But the pressure will be strong to then declare the war won and the offensive stage over. That would be disastrous.

Those who instigated the current war must remember that Coventry and Pearl Harbor backfired on Dresden and Hiroshima. There will be no peace in Gaza, no freedom from fear in Jerusalem, until we have prosecuted the war on terror in Baghdad, Tehran, Damascus and elsewhere. U.S. leadership saved Europe from fascism and communism. It is again the last hope.

Smart guy.