It also appears that the regime has been weakened. Saddam's January Army Day speech calling for the overthrow of Arab governments, the walk-out by his Foreign Minister from the January Arab League meeting, repeated Iraqi threats to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey and repeated allusions by Iraqi officials to the illegitimacy of the Kuwait border underscore Saddam's weakness and isolation. Anecdotally, we have heard that over half the civilian government offices in Baghdad were dispersed to residential areas during the December air strikes and have not yet returned to their original locations. Moreover, long-term dispersal of Republican Guard units to the field is reported to be taking a toll on morale among the RG officer corps, which no longer enjoys a privileged lifestyle in Baghdad. Instead, his defiance of the international community has prolonged sanctions even further and compelled the coalition to respond militarily in December.
Sanctions remain in place.
The UN controls his oil revenue and provides for the Iraqi people and it is clear that there can be no short cut to lifting sanctions. Since the end of Desert Fox, Saddam has chosen to challenge the No-Fly zones in both the north and south on an almost daily basis. The coalition response has been to strike at his integrated air defense system. The net effect of his challenges has been to degrade his weapons capability further and frustrate his efforts to achieve even a pyrrhic victory. One recent strike appears to have affected communication for the oil pipeline to Turkey.