Washington is mad to pursue a policy of military action against Iraq which is not an immediate threat to the Middle East let alone to the US, British novelist John Le Carre warned.

"America has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but this is the worst I can remember: worse than McCarthyism, worse than the Bay of Pigs and in the long term potentially more disastrous than the Vietnam War," Le Carre wrote in Wednesday's edition of the right-wing Times daily.

"What is at stake is not an 'axis of evil' but oil, money and peoples lives. Saddams misfortune is to sit on the second biggest oilfield in the world," wrote Le Carre, novelist and spy expert, referring to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Last year US President George W. Bush said Iraq, Iran and North Korea represented an "axis of evil."

Bush wants Iraq's oil "and who helps him get it will receive a piece of the cake," the Times article said.

"If Saddam didnt have the oil, he could torture his citizens to his hearts content. Other leaders do it every day," wrote the author, citing Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey, Syria and Egypt.

"Baghdad represents no clear and present danger to its neighbours, and none to the US or Britain. Saddams weapons of mass destruction, if hes still got them, will be peanuts by comparison with the stuff Israel or America could hurl at him at five minutes notice."

"What is at stake," Le Carre wrote, "is Americas need to demonstrate its military power to all of us -- to Europe and Russia and China.

As for Britain "the most charitable interpretation of (Prime Minister) Tony Blairs part in all this is that he believed that, by riding the tiger, he could steer it," the article said, referring to US policy on Iraq.

"He cant," Le Carre concluded. "Instead, he gave it a phoney legitimacy, and a smooth voice. Now I fear, the same tiger has him penned into a corner, and he cant get out."

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