THE POSTWAR STAKES FOR BUSINESS

For months, US companies put off big decisions as they waited to see if America would go to war with Iraq. Now, with coalition forces poised for victory in Baghdad, execs are breathing a sigh of relief that the war has been mercifully quick. So they are ready to hike capital spending, rebuild inventories, and dust off expansion plans, right? Not necessarily. While the war has gone better than many expected, the risks for business and the global economy have hardly disappeared. Indeed, how the US handles the aftermath of the war will be every bit as crucial to the economy as it is to diplomacy. Multinationals depend on a multilateral world. A continued rise in tensions would be anathema to the open, international economic system on which growth and prosperity depends.