At some point in the future, sanctions against Iraq will not be in place, whether they are formally lifted of fail and become unenforceable. At that point, Saddam Hussein will be able to rebuild his establishment. The re-establishment of Iraq's conventional forces will provide a shiled for the regime, which they can use to protect the development of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. The US allies in the region, the Guld Cooperation Council states, are unable to come to political agreement on whether Iraq or Iran is the primary threat to them, and do not have the military strenght required to address either threat without outside support. Finally, US vital interests in the region will not change with the ending of sanctions. Accordingly, a new military approach should be developed-one that elevaland-based aerospace power into the main effort of a joint strategy.